Bubble-gum Pink Moon
by MarauderWitch
Summary: Remus was a stubborn man, but Tonks'd prove to him that she could be even more either to show him that they should be in a relationship and start a life together or to bet on their baby's gender and choose the nursery's colour. From the end of GoF until the end of DH, centred on Remus and Dora and how they turned each other's world upside down with laughter, tears and love. Canon.
1. Prologue

~Disclaimer: Anything recognisable belongs to the queen J.K. Rowling!~

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><p><span><strong>BOOK 1: The Order of the Phoenix<strong>

**Prologue**

The grin seemed to be glued on her lips and the control over her hair colour was not longer hers. The instant Moody got a hold of her scarlet Auror robes, all her resolution to look like a serious professional was gone. She had tried to use her original appearance for the occasion: the five feet and eight inches of toned muscle she had been forced to cultivate over the last few years, her heart-shaped face, dark blue eyes, blonde hair, but being a Metamorphmagus meant that one could not always look as they pleased and the top of her head was now bubble-gum pink – making a horrid contrast with the red of her robes. As he fastened the silver badge, everything seemed perfect: the crossed wands, the Department of Law Enforcement initials, the big 'A' for Auror, and even, the Ministry of Magic's logo. Nymphadora Tonks could feel her mentor's eyes glaring at her, but could not find it in herself to care. Not that she had cared whenever he did that. From the first time she heard her colleagues talking about Mad-Eye, she had had the urge to play for a bit of a laugh and mock everyone from being afraid of a softy. Even though he had proved her wrong, from their first day onwards, Tonks never stopped taunting him.

'As the head of the Auror Office and representative of the Ministry of Magic, I hereby grant you, Nymphadora Vulpecula Tonks, the title of Auror,' said Moody as he finished placing the badge and a loud round of applause was heard. 'You have qualified to help protect people from harm and it's something only a select group can be honoured to have achieved. However, it is not over. Remember to never disrespect your superiors. Your search for knowledge must never end and thus, if you do so, your position shall always ascend.'

The last three years of her life had been harder than she had allowed herself to believe when Professor Sprout had told her that Auror Training was not for the faint of heart; nevertheless, after all those years of misbehaving, her professor believed that she was capable of enduring it.

And she had been right.

Tonks had learnt quite a lot, but not everything had been joy. She had lost not only nights of sleep, but loved ones along the way, including colleagues who never managed to leave training alive. But she had got to the end. Now, she was one of the few that would stop people from losing their loved ones. She was still a Junior Auror, but she was officially part of the ones making the Wizarding community a safer place and she had never been happier.

'Honour this badge with your life, officer,' finished Moody.

'And what if I lose it?' she grinned in response with a wink.

Mad-Eye then clenched his teeth, but once again she did not care nor did she when, on her way out, her feet mysteriously got a hold of each other and she tripped. The sound of the laughter that filled her ears when she questioned Moody only echoed louder and it was the only thing that mattered. Though that was perhaps not true, as she also felt elated when her mate Savage ran at her and lifting her off the floor in a tight hug, when she saw her mother's teary eyes, and the proud smile on her father's lips. All of it let her get lost in her own happiness and forget everything else, even the fact that Alastor Moody had just announced his retirement in an interview to a reporter from the Daily Prophet; who was, at that precise moment, taking a picture.

A picture that would be on the front page of the following day's edition of the newspaper; titled: 'ALASTOR MOODY APPOINTED AS THE NEW DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS PROFESSOR'. This was the headline that a thin, six feet and two inches tall man with a greying light brown hair and amber eyes named Remus Lupin would be reading on the next morning and thinking that the party being thrown behind the man who would replace him was one with the purpose of celebrating the fact that Albus Dumbledore had finally taken a good move towards the jinxed position at Hogwarts. Remus Lupin would have no idea that, in less than a year's time, he would come to see the Auror and the girl behind him on a daily basis.

At that moment, all that mattered was the fact that his mistake of thinking he was in anyway worthy of leading a normal life within the Wizarding community was partially fixed. The young wizards and witches that he had grown so fond of would have a decent mentor. Someone who could teach them how to survive and how to deal properly with the Dark Arts. He had no doubt Moody would fit the post perfectly; he had filled half of the cells in Azkaban after all, and was the best Auror Remus had ever heard of, albeit a bit paranoid as he had come to know whilst working for the Order of the Phoenix over a decade before.

He entered at The Three Broomsticks, glad that at least his months at Hogwarts had filled his pockets with some gold, and sat by the counter. Spotting Madam Rosmerta, he gestured for her to come and recognised the look in her eyes. It was the same one he had been all too accustomed to seeing whenever they learnt just what he was.

'May I have a Butterbeer, please?'

She lingered for a second longer than needed, narrowing her eyes at him whilst absentmindedly wiping her hands on a cloth before fetching his order.

The couple of Sickles had barely hit the counter when she placed the bottle beside them a little too strong.

'Do me a favour, lad? Don't scare my _real_ clients off,' she demanded tilting her head towards the door.

Remus got the Butterbeer and left, trying his best to turn a blind eye to the several heads that turned towards him as he made his way out. It had barely been a month since he resigned from the only real Wizarding job he had ever had and practically every single place he had visited since his name had appeared in the Daily Prophet, had been a repetition of what he had just witnessed. Not even old acquaintances were tolerant of his condition. It made him feel even more grateful for the Marauders' friendship towards him all those years ago. _How could Wormtail have done it? How. Could. He?_ James had welcomed him within their group, they had been no less than inseparable and Lily was always so caring ...

Even with the recent discover of Peter's betrayal … he had likely been the luckiest bloke in the world; for he found the only ones that could see in him the man and not the beast. But after all the hateful owls he had been receiving lately ... it was hard to remember what it had been like back then. Well, what did he expect?


	2. 1 Old Enough to Fight

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** In honour to Remus Lupin's birthday I'm posting the first chapter of my first fanfic. Please, bear with me if I make any hookie mistakes. xD I hope you guys like it as much as I like to write it.

Also, as the canon for Remus and Tonks isn't that big it allows different interpretations and this is my view of it. I added OCs because I do believe that Tonks has friends apart from the ones we know. We don't know any friends she had from her Hogwarts years and I doubt that she didn't have at least a few. I am in the process of editing my fic so it's canon like we know on Pottermore so obviously there will be Pottermore spoilers. Current already edited chapters: 1-10, 14 and from 32 onwards.

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 1: Old Enough To Fight<strong>

A corpse. It was amongst the few things that, when you are protecting your best friend's fourteen-year-old son, you would not want him to see. But it had indeed just happened. Remus was listening to the radio very carefully as he prepared some tea to calm himself. The last task of the Tri Wizard Tournment had just ended, and the narrators of the Wizarding Wireless Network had no idea of what was happening. Apparently, Harry came back from the maze holding Cedric Diggory's dead body.

After a couple of hours of the speakers babbling without something new, he decided to do some laundry. When he finished separating his robes, he heard some scratching on his door; grabbing his wand he went over there, wondering what could have caused such noise.

A huge black dog transformed himself into a skinny man the instant he opened the door.

'Sirius! Hello – What are you doing here?' he asked in a whisper whilst hugging him, despite being thrilled to see his best friend. Over a year had passed by since the last time they saw each other, but he knew that Sirius was taking a great risk by showing up at his doorstep. And as he recognised Sirius's expression, he took a step back and added, 'Come on in. I made some tea a while ago.'

Remus picked up an extra mug for Sirius and waved his wand to warm up the tea before sitting at the table.

'He's back. You-Know-Who.'

He looked at Sirius wide-eyed, in shock. One of his greatest fears, something he had dreaded for the last thirteen years was suddenly becoming true.

'Bu-but how? Where? When?'

'Just now. Harry saw it,' Sirius answered.

'And is he all right?' Remus asked, suddenly worried about the boy.

'Scratched and a bit shaken up, but he's OK. The cup was a portkey, enchanted by Barty Crouch Jr. – Oh yeah, and then there's that, Barty is Moody; he's been drinking Polyjuice potion the whole year.'

'Wasn't he … _dead_?' questioned Remus, frowning and confused, sipping from his mug.

'Apparently not. Dunno what really happened, but that's what Dumbledore said,' Sirius answered.

'And do they know where Moody is? Did they catch Crouch?' Remus's mind was racing, but it did not seem to have anything that he could do at that moment.

Sirius exhaled heavily.

'I'll make the story short for you,' He drank more of his tea, took a deep breath and started, 'Dumbledore allowed me to watch the task as a dog on the bleachers and … you know how it all happened until they got back,' Sirius added, pointing to the radio still on.

He touched it with the tip of his wand to turn it off whilst asking, 'Is Diggory really dead?'

Sirius nodded sadly, drinking more of his tea.

Remus rubbed his mug absentmindedly, remembering the boy from the year before, Cedric had been one of his most brilliant students.

'When they arrived, I wanted to run to Harry, but I controlled myself and waited quietly instead. I watched Moody take him away to the Castle – at least who I thought was Moody and after a while, I saw Dumbledore ran back to the Castle. Next thing I know, I'm receiving a Patronus from him, telling me to wait at his office door, so I did. Stayed there for what seemed like an eternity until McGonagall showed up.' Sirius started laughing and Remus looked at him, intrigued, as he managed to say between laughter, 'You … should've seen her face … It was _hilarious_!' Sirius got up and made his best impression of Professor McGonagall. 'Ah, um, dog,' he put his hand on his mouth and cleared his throat, 'Professor Dumbledore asked me to, um, tell you to, um, come with me.' They both started to laugh as Sirius sat back on the chair.

'Anyway, we walked to the Hospital Wing and Harry was there; dirty and with a nasty cut on the forearm. Dumbledore said that You-Know-Who had regained power, but he didn't get into any details. Told me to reveal myself and –' he shivered, frowning heavily and made a disgusted face, repressing a sudden urge to spew before continuing, 'made me shake Snivellus's hand. He said that we're both on the same side now. _That bastard!_ I'll never be on the same side as him. Death Eater!' He took another sip and continued. 'Asked me to contact everyone, to reunite the Order.'

'You don't even have to ask me that! I assume he didn't say anything about the first meeting or …'

'No, no. Just asked me to talk to everyone.' Sitting back on his chair he continued, 'In fact, he asked me to wait here; said he'd contact me, probably by Patronus since these things need to be fast, but I think he'll send an owl when he sets everything up later tonight. It shouldn't take long.' He finished his tea and stared to the empty mug for a moment before smiling. 'So, apart from what you told me in your letters, what else have you been doing?'

The next half-hour was spent catching up and laughing at each other's stories; they had years apart to make up for. They really needed this moment. That night in the Shrieking Shack was the closest they had to this, but that night was also filled with revelations and truths about what had really happened the night their friends died. Now, Remus and Sirius were talking again as best friends, and it was like they were back in their Hogwarts years and they were just Marauders.

When the shining phoenix entered the kitchen, it spoke with Dumbledore's voice.

'The Minister refuses to accept that Voldemort's back. I still need you to contact everyone, but do remember to alert them, especially if they work for the Ministry. Make sure they understand the risks. Cornelius won't hesitate to sack someone involved with the Order, but they must also know that we will keep everything in secret. You will cover more ground if you and Lupin split. I'll keep on trying to make him see.'

They got up quickly as the Patronus faded.

'OK, um, so I'll go to Mundungus Fletcher and Hestia Jones for now, you can head to Emmeline Vance and Arabella Figg's, we will catch up once we're done with those to see who is next.'

'All right,' Remus agreed as he nodded and hugged his best friend again.

'See you again soon, Moony,' Sirius said, bowing his head a bit.

'Indeed, Padfoot.' Remus could not help and smiled, he felt young again just to hear one of the Marauders call him by that name once more.

Hours after Sirius left Remus's place, he arrived at another dearest door.

'Sirius!' A brown-haired woman greeted him happily and invited him in, she took a quick look out at both sides before closing the door. He gave her a quick hug before she informed him, 'They're in the drawing-room. How are you doing?'

'I'm OK,' he replied as they walked towards the room she had pointed.

'We're about to have dinner and you look like you could eat.'

Sirius laughed.

'I'm starving!'

As soon as they entered the room a pink-haired girl ran at him and hugged him really tight after shouting his name.

'**Sirius!**'

'Nymphie!'

'I warned you the first time,' she replied somewhat angry as she released him.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It takes time to get used to it, you know? _Tonks_. It just doesn't feel like you. It reminds me more of your dad than you …' he explained.

'So I'm not a Tonks to you?' asked Andromeda, narrowing her eyes.

'Uh …' Sirius looked from one woman to the other. 'Don't fight like that for my attention, ladies,' he said. 'There's plenty for all.'

'Is that so? Try to remember this then: if you say it again, I'll hex you!' threatened Tonks, pulling out her wand.

'She really will, you know,' said a fair-haired man behind her, offering his fat hand to shake.

'Ted!' Sirius greeted and shook his hand.

'Go to the table, all of you, before you start catching up right here. I'll get you a plate, Sirius.'

'Thanks, Andy.'

'I'll help you, love.'

'Make yourself at home,' Tonks offered, pointing to a chair and sitting on another. 'Still hiding around Hogwarts?'

'Yeah, I was there today, watching the Triwizard task.'

'_Really?'_ Tonks's eyes widened with excitement. 'I'm only here because of it, came to listen with Mum and Dad and ended up staying for dinner. I'm not a good cook anyway.' She shrugged, but smiled; everyone knew how clumsy she could be, especially in the kitchen.

At that moment, Andromeda and Ted entered the room bringing the dinner.

'Um, smells great!' Sirius pointed out, taking the tableware that Andromeda offered him as Ted placed a chicken lasagne on the table.

Sirius waited until everybody ate at least a piece of the main dish to make his announcement.

'You-Know-Who's back. Dumbledore's gathering the Order again.'

'What?'

'When?'

'How … ?'

'I'm not familiar with the whole story so, I'm not sure about how it happened, but Harry saw it. Barty Crouch Jr. bewitched the cup to become a portkey.'

'Barty Crouch Jr.? I thought he was dead …' Andromeda brought forth.

'So did I. So did everyone! Again, I'm not sure about what really happened.' Then he added with his mouth full, 'Oh, yeah. I 'ave bad news, _Tonks,_' he stressed the last word, showing that he had learnt and did not wish to be hexed, swallowing before continuing, 'Mad-Eye he's … not good.'

Tonks almost choked on her drink.

'WHAT? How come was he _not _good? He was always good.'

'Yeah, Barty Crouch got him and … it's pretty bad –'

'He's not going to die, _is he_?' Tonks interrupted, worried and with wide eyes. No one had ever got Moody. She had never seen him in a bad state, if he was bad, maybe it could mean the worse ...

'No, no. He'll be OK. But Crouch kept him inside that trunk of his the whole year and … let's just say he's in bad shape.'

'He was always … so strong … Last person I'd say to get caught … _Where is he?_ Can I go visit him?'

'Calm down, girl!' Sirius replied with a smile. 'He's at Hogwarts, in the Hospital Wing, but he should be home this week. Reckon you should wait, but you can owl Poppy to make sure.'

Tonks chuckled.

'Can't wait to tease him. "_Constant Vigilance_!"' She pointed at Sirius, imitating her old mentor. As her smile faded, she felt a great weight in her chest. 'But is Harry sure? I mean … maybe he's not **really **back.' She was only eight years old when the Dark Lord lost his powers, but she remembered how it was back then, all the fear and the horror.

Sirius shook his head.

'Dumbledore heard the whole story, from Crouch _and_ from Harry. Sorry, but he _really_ is back.' He looked at everyone sitting at the table, Tonks nodded, Ted clenched his teeth and Andromeda squeezed her husband's hand once again. 'And well, above all, he's gathering the Order again; wouldn't do it if he wasn't a hundred percent sure.' Sirius took a deep breath and looked to his cousin and her husband. 'Which brings me to what I'm doing here. Ted, Andy, I know you weren't in the Order the last time, but I have to ask … We lost so many the last time,' he turned his gaze to face Tonks, 'and we're always taking new recruits. Anyone who's willing to fight for our cause is welcome. If you are OK with it,' he added, quickly looking at her parents again.

Andromeda and Ted exchanged a meaningful look before she said with a smile, 'Will you excuse us for a moment, Sirius?' and both of them headed to the kitchen.

Tonks grabbed all the dirty plates and cutlery whispering 'I'll be right back,' to her cousin and following her parents. She was not a little girl anymore and was not going to let them decide her future. When she stepped in the kitchen, she dropped all the cutlery that was above the plates.

'_Accio_!'

'Sorry …' Heading to the sink, she apologised as her mother grabbed them, she enchanted the sponge to do the washing up and announced to them, 'I'm going to fight. Are you?' before crossing her arms over her chest.

Andromeda swallowed hard before biting her lip, the fear was clear in her eyes.

'Dora,' Ted started, 'you don't know how dangerous this is.'

'No, wait. Mum, Dad, listen, _maybe _I don't, 'cause most I remember from back then was that I could barely get out the house. But I know that I won't just sit and watch. I'm old enough to fight. And I do think I know how dangerous this can be. I'll have to fight what? Several dark wizards at the same time? Been there, done that and you two know it. And if it comes down to fight You-Know-Who himself, I'll be more than glad to be part of the team that will try to bring him down. This is the life I chose for me, this is what I want to do. This is _not _something I'm choosing now, I'm an Auror!' She did not mean to give a speech to her parents, but the words kept coming and she needed to explain it to them. Maybe she needed to learn to control her mouth a bit. After a moment of silence she exhaled heavily and stared at her feet. 'I completely understand if you two don't want to be part of the Order. I mean, you _know _how bad it was back then and …'

'Darling, you know how much I hate to fight, I wasn't part of the Order of the Phoenix the first time and I won't be now.' The only big fight Andromeda ever got herself into was the inevitable one with her own family.

Ted held his wife's hand.

'I'll stick with your mother. Won't be easy to have you there, though, but we understand. In fact, that's exactly what I was telling your mother before you came in. I knew you would want to fight,' he sucked in a deep breath, 'and we're proud of you.'

Andromeda pulled her daughter into a hug.

'Be safe, OK?'

'I'll do my best.'

She let go of her daughter and went to get the dessert.

'Let's not keep Sirius from more food for much longer,' she said trying not to make from that a teary moment.

The trio entered the room and as Andromeda placed the dessert on the table, Ted handed her the plates and cutlery.

'Decided?' Sirius asked.

'I'm in! Mum and Dad will remain out, though,' Tonks answered, excited as her mother handed a plate with a piece of the cake to each of them. Sirius took in a deep breath gazing at his younger cousin.

'There's more,' he sighed, trying to find the right words, but there was no easy way to put what was in his mind. 'Fudge refuses to believe Voldemort is back, and Dumbledore reckons he won't hesitate on sacking a Ministry worker involved with the Order.' Sirius looked apprehensive at her, but Tonks merely shrugged.

'Guess I'll have to be extra careful then.' She smiled as her parents looked proudly at her.

'Are you sure, cuz? 'Cause I know you've worked really hard to have what you have now and I'll completely underst―'

'And You-Know-Who will take it from me if we don't act!' she replied almost angrily at him, there was nothing she wanted to do more, couldn't he just see it?

'Great! No – Brilliant! Really – It is. So, Dumbledore will owl everyone soon, I hope.' And turning his gaze to the new dish on the table he asked 'Now, what is this?'

'It's a Dark Chocolate Brown Sugar Pound Cake that I bake with a Chocolate and Strawberry Glaze,' Andromeda explained smiling and pretending to be breathless to which Sirius mirrored her smile. 'Or rather, the Tonkses' cake,' she announced, proudly.

After taking a bite, Sirius managed to say with a full mouth.

'Umm! It's amazing, Andy! I can't even remember eating something so good. D'you guys have a great meal like this every day?'

'Not sure if I'd have left if we did,' Tonks joked and chuckled.

Andromeda smiled.

'Thank you, but no. Although I like to think that most meals are just as good. I only did this because Nymphadora is home and it's her favourite.'

Tonks rolled her eyes at the mention of her first name, she was not in the mood to have the discussion they had already had several times.

A few minutes later they had cleaned their plates.

'I should get going, Andy. Must report to Dumbledore everyone I was able to gather.'

They all got up and said their goodbyes.

'All right. It was good to see you again.'

'I enjoyed seeing you again too. I'll see you soon, Tonks! Dumbledore's owl shouldn't take long.'

Tonks hugged him.

''K. Can't wait!'

'To receive the owl or to see me again?' Sirius teased her.

'Both, you berk,' Tonks replied, letting go of him and rolling her eyes.

'Take care of my little girl, all right?' Ted asked and shook his hand.

'I'll do everything I can.' He nodded. 'You have my word.'

'Not a little girl anymore, Dad.'

'You'll _always_ be my little girl,' Ted said before kissing her cheek. 'And it won't hurt to have someone looking after you. I know it will let your mother and me feel better.'

'Yeah, right,' Tonks replied after crossing her arms on her chest and exhaling heavily whilst her father opened the door, so Sirius could leave. Right after Ted closed it, he turned himself into a dog and ran away. Honestly, after all those years in Azkaban, she was sure that it was easier for her to save him than the other way around.

'Do you want me to pack the rest of the cake, so you can take it with you?'

'Course! May I help you?'

Andromeda looked rather apprehensive at her daughter.

'It's OK. I can handle it, dear,' she said, but with something slightly different in mind, _If you want the cake to survive …_

She was back a couple of minutes later with the cake wrapped.

Tonks sighed.

'Don't think I'll have a lot of free time now that I'm in the Order. I'll try to visit, though.'

'If I promise to bake this cake every time you stop by, will you come more often?' Andromeda asked, causing everyone to laugh.

'Probably!' she mocked, knowing that both of them knew that the cake would not change the frequency of her visits.

Tonks hugged both of her parents.

'We understand, but do try to be careful, OK?' her father asked.

'Will do! I'll send an owl when I'm able to visit again.' She smiled at her mother.

'No need to. If you want, just show up,' Andromeda said, shaking her head. 'You're welcome here at any time.'

'All right, Mum. Cheers!' Tonks said, stepping outside and waved before Apparating in her own kitchen. After stowing the cake, she grabbed the report she had stopped reading earlier that day.


	3. 2 Wotcher!

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! In honour to my birthday, the second chapter! I can't keep posting only on special dates, otherwise it will take far too long. Anyway, it ended up being longer than what I intended to, but I liked the result and I hope you all do too!

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 2: Wotcher!<span>**

After hours visiting different homes, Remus found himself leaning against a wall resting his eyes; his arms crossed on his chest and his right leg was bent, his right foot placed against the wall behind him. It had been a long evening, in all the houses it was pretty much the same situation. He knocked, explained that the Dark Lord had regained power, they would ask him if he was sure, a few would not believe him, but he made all of them see the truth by saying that Dumbledore was re-gathering the Order. All the old members promptly offered their help, however, a few new recruits were hesitant at first, but he was glad that he managed to convince a good number of them.

He had arrived at Hogwarts a few minutes before and was waiting for Dumbledore. The Headmaster was still trying to make the Minister of Magic see the truth, but Fudge refused to believe that a fourteen-year-old would have witnessed the Dark Lord's rising and survived, let alone come back bringing a dead body with him. The whole story just did not make any sense for him, something unfortunate happened, causing the older boy's death, but certainly not Voldemort's rise.

Sirius entered running in the hallway Remus was, he had a pile of parchment in his hand and shouted at his best friend.

'Wake up, sleepyhead!'

Remus merely opened his eyes and looked at the direction of the voice.

'Come with me. Dumbledore's back, asked me to dispatch these.' He raised his hand, allowing Remus to realise that the parchment was in fact, letters.

'Any luck with Fudge?' he asked as Sirius started to walk beside him.

'Nah!' Sirius shook his head and shrugged. 'He'll have to come around sooner or later, though.'

'I just hope no one gets hurt because of it.'

'Yeah … Here, take 'em.'

Remus frowned, but took the letters, a minute later a black dog was running beside him and it hit him, they could not take the chance of student or staff walking around at night to see one of the most wanted man in England.

As they entered the owlery, Sirius got back to his human form, Remus handed some of the letters to him before he started to call an owl, so he could tie the letter on its leg. They started tying the letters in the owls' legs, not really paying attention to where each of them would go, it was a task that needed to be done fast and Remus and Sirius concluded it in a matter of minutes. Thus, they left the room and met Dumbledore at the entrance of the Headmaster's office.

'I see you two have finished with the letters already.' He smiled warmly. 'Good. The meeting will be at the staff room and the members should start arriving any minute now. You two can go ahead, I'll be there soon.'

'Staff room?' Sirius asked as they started walking down the hallway. 'Can't say I recall that one.'

'It's close to the entrance to the Great Hall, near the main staircase.'

Sirius frowned slightly, his gaze lost around the walls; clearly he was not in the present.

'Is it … that one where we locked Slughorn? Third or fourth year, not sure. You got in and pretended you had a question about some stupid ingredient, distracted him so James could get his wand and we locked him in?'

Remus chuckled as he, too, remembered said day.

'That's the one. And it was third year. But you were the one who got his wand, not James.'

'Me? Oh, yeah, that's right. James was the original plan, but then he remembered that Slughorn loved Lily and if she ever found out that James stole his wand, she'd never talk to him again, not that she was talking to him then, but he sent me in his place either way. Even with the cloak …'

'James casted the Sonorus, though. Once Horace started singing, he just couldn't help. The whole school heard him,' Remus remembered, causing them both to laugh.

The smiles in their faces started to fade when Sirius said 'Good times.' Even though it was great to remember their best friend, they still missed him greatly and the feeling of loss would always fill their hearts when they came across with such a strong reminder of him.

Remus waved his wand to light up the room as Sirius entered and threw himself at the closest couch with a big yawn.

'D'you think we can take a kip?'

'Better not,' Remus answered, sitting on a chair nearby. 'Everyone should be arriving soon and Dumbled—' He stopped himself as he heard footsteps approaching. 'Professor,' he greeted his old colleague with a small nod.

'Oh, Remus, please. Don't mind the formalities. We're both members now, it's time you start calling me by my first name,' McGonagall said somewhat tense before turning her head to the room's other occupant. 'Sirius.'

'Hello, Minerva.' All his self-control was needed to stop him from bursting into laughter as he remembered their encounter earlier that evening.

'Have you seen Albus?' she questioned.

'Um, a few minutes ago, actually. He should be arriving any minute now,' Remus informed her, craning towards the door, just to see a black-haired woman entering the room in a hurry with an alerted expression in her face.

'Hello, Hestia, dear,' said the deputy Headmistress with a smile.

'Minerva, how are you?' she asked, mirroring her smile.

'As good as the situation allows.' Her smile faded as she answered.

'Evening, Hestia,' Sirius greeted as he sat on the couch he was. 'Long time no see,' he joked, with a slight smirk.

'Oh, Sirius. Hi! I thought everyone would be around by now. Couldn't sleep after you stopped by, so I Disapparated as soon as I received the letter,' she answered before turning to the other man in the room. 'And you'd be … Lupin, isn't it? Remus Lupin?'

'Yes, ma'am.' Remus got up and offered his hand to shake. 'You're the first one to arrive actually. We've been here since then, we also didn't sleep.'

'Oh, right. That's good then,' she pointed out with a smile, shaking his hand. 'I do remember you. You're the werew— ah, um, well.' She started to blush heavily, even though she knew about his condition, she also knew that it was not exactly a pleasant subject and unfortunately, it escaped out of her mouth.

'Yes … That's me,' Remus answered uncomfortable. 'It's quite all right. Don-don't worry about it.' He was now trying to soften the situation; he was used to people feeling guilty for mentioning his condition.

'Did you see anyone else when you arrived? Or heard someone …?' Sirius asked, he was always better than Remus in this kind of situation and he offered him a smile, showing how glad he was for what he did.

Fifteen minutes later almost all the ones they had sent the letters had arrived and Remus left the room for a moment, he wanted to be alert during the meeting, so he decided to go to the toilet, in order to wash his face. He patted Sirius on the shoulder before going through the door. 'I'll be back in a minute.'

All Tonks remembered from that moment was a good sensation; she could not really define what it was. Was she flying? The breeze through her hair, yes, she was flying, but then she heard a noise, she could not really understand it. What was it? It seemed like … She left out a moan as she opened her eyes and looked at the window. There was a barn owl beating its beak against the glass.

'How long have you been there?' she asked the bird as she unwilling got up to open the glass.

Not thirty seconds later the owl was flying away after dropping a letter in her hands.

'What the –' Tonks started, looking at the bird, but stopped herself when she saw the official red and orange emblem on the letter. Sitting on her bed, she opened it as quickly as her shaking hands allowed her to. Written in a narrow handwriting, the letter said:

_Dear Ms Nymphadora V. Tonks,_

_We're happy that you decided to join our cause and gladly welcome you to the Second Order of the Phoenix.__  
><em>Due to the recent events we need to take action as soon as possible, therefore I request your presence<em>  
><em>at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as soon as you receive this,<em>  
><em>our meeting will take place at the staff room, located on the ground floor.<em>_

_Hoping to see you soon,_

_Prof. Albus P. W. B. Dumbledore_

'As in … right now?' She stared at the wall in front of her, the clock on her bedside table was marking almost a quarter to one in the morning, she had not realised how serious the situation was until now. The Dark Lord was out there, probably gathering more followers at that exact moment and she wanted to _sleep_? She shook her head and went to the toilet. After quickly brushing her teeth, she ran to her wardrobe and grabbed the first clothes she saw, this was not the moment to look pretty, it was not as though she was going to meet the love of her life. _I should look professional, though._ She stared at the worn robes on her hands for a moment, biting her lip, but Tonks shook her head a second later. _There is_ **_no_** _time!_

As she changed clothes, her mind started to wonder. How long was the owl there? For how long was that owl beating its beak against the glass? What if she was late? How could she arrive in the middle of the meeting? _Great impression you'd cause!_ She didn't even know anyone there, except for Sirius and Prof. Dumbledore, as if she knew Prof. Dumbledore, you're lucky if he knows your name. Wait – No, he better not know your name … What if everyone was just waiting for her to start? Didn't Sirius say that Dumbledore would owl everyone tonight? She threw her pyjamas on the bed and grabbed her favourite boots on the hall. 'Why did I even closed my eyes for a minute in the first place?' She cursed herself while putting them on, barely lacing them properly before grabbing her wand on the bedside table and running outside the bedroom. '_Accio!_' She pointed her wand to the coat on the hanger by the door and, as soon as her fingers touched its fabric, she Disapparated.

Tonks felt the fresh night breeze on her face before opening her eyes. The Hogsmeade village was empty and dark. She whirled just to see the big castle behind her; the smile came to her lips before she could stop it. All the good memories she had from there, the friendships she made inside those grounds, how much she had learnt. There was just something magical about that place.

She shook her head to bring herself to the present. _If you want to do some good at this, you need to focus, s_he reminded herself as she slowly started to run, putting her right arm inside her coat and then the left one, allowing her to finally run at full speed. In a couple of minutes, she was opening the gate with the winged boars. She did not even recall the few changes that happened since her graduation as she ran past the lake.

The oak front doors were opened and she was glad that she did not need to slow down, but she step down when she realised how loud the echoes from her footsteps were. She looked around and noticed that she did not remember where to go, the time of the meeting had called her attention in such a strong way that she had no idea of where to go now that she had entered the castle. Putting her hands inside her pockets, she realised that the letter was not there, probably thrown on her bed, holding the important information.

_Fuck! Shite! Great! Come on, Tonks! Where was it?_ She hit her own head as she tried to remember. _Some room … Oh, really?_ She replied to her own mind comment. _Did it start with a 's'? Or was it a 't'? Stu … Sta__—_ Staff, yes! That's it! Now where the hell is the staff room?__ She led out a breath annoyed and started to walk, wishing that she was not in such a hurry when she left home. She walked to the Great Hall for she had to start somewhere so, she turned right without luck, there was no sound coming from nowhere near it, but she did start to hear a few voices, probably coming from the other side.

Having decided to go left, she re-started to run when she noticed that the voices were a bit loud; was it possible that they were discussing something important already? She accelerated her pace, she really did not want to be late, but with her level of anxiety and her unlaced boots, she ended up tripping for she stepped on her own shoelace and fell on her knees. Tonks released a moan, immobile for a second.

'Are you all right?' She heard a warm voice ask her before opening her eyes to see a hand being offered to help her to get up, she frowned for that voice seemed to her oddly familiar.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' she answered, taking the hand and standing on her feet. 'Thanks,' she replied, whishing she had laced her boots properly and not quite looking at whoever had helped her.

'Are you sure? It was a pretty bad fall.'

She started to wipe the dirt from her jeans. _Merlin, I do know your voice!_

'I'm OK, don't worry. I'm u—' Finally lifting up her face to see the one who helped her, she found herself lost as soon as her eyes met his. _Well, wotcher!,_ her mind greeted as a slight smirk played in the corner of her lips and immediately she wished she had spared a few more minutes to choose better robes.

There was something familiar about that pink hair to him, but Remus was not exactly trying to place it. He was more concerned about the girl herself … until she looked at him. His heart skipped a beat; she was a very, very beautiful young witch. He did not know what to say as he looked up and down at her, his mind seemed to have stopped.

'You … you are …?' he asked. What's better to do than to ask the other person to talk when you do not know what to say? It was the best strategy and he wanted to know what she was going to say.

_Were you checking me out? Like … really? Or is my mind tricking me?_ She smiled. 'I'm, um.' She cleared her throat still unable to look away from his eyes, 'I'm u-used to it.' She bit her lower lip, the small smirk still there as she wondered if he knew that he had a perfect shade of amber in his eyes.

'Used to it?' He frowned, intrigued. How could someone be used to falling?

'Oh, I see you guys are already catching up for the last years?' Sirius did not know who was more confused when both of them looked frowning at him.

'WHAT?' With wide eyes, she looked at him. _I do think I'd remember … someone like … him._

'Catch-catching up? Are you saying that –' He pointed to her and then to himself a few times. 'That we –'

'Oh, come on! Really?' Sirius crossed his arms over his chest with a curious expression upon his face. As both continued to look at him as if they had no idea of what was going on, he added, 'You two _really_ don't remember each other?'

Remus looked at the girl one more time. That pink hair of hers was really familiar to him, but he could not remember where nor when he had seen it. When she felt him eyeing her, she looked at him too. _Merlin, you do have beautiful eyes._

Sirius chuckled as he uncrossed his arms, each of his open hands pointing to one of them.

'Remus Lupin, this is … I'm sorry, but so he recognises you, I have to.' He turned his gaze to her as he added that last part. 'This is Nymphadora Tonks.'

Tonks barely registered the use of her first name, her mind was somewhere else. _Remus Lupin? Where did I hear that name before?_

His eyebrows rose and his eyes went wide.

'Tonks? Nymphadora Tonks? As in Andy and Ted's?' His lips were now opening into a smile as memories from the past flooded his mind.

_That voice …_ She slightly frowned as she changed the weight of her body to the other leg, a bit uncomfortable. _Oh great! Now I'm the only one lost here._

'Yeah … but don't, please. Jus-just Tonks.'

Remus shook his head slightly as he put his hands in his pockets.

'How could I forget …? The pink hair – Metamorphmagus, isn't it?' The smile growing in his lips. 'The boys were lost with your mother's letter to Sirius, I remember being the only one who knew what – I mean, your ability,' he finished, hoping she did not realise that he almost said what she was, as if she was something as awful as he was.

The look Tonks glanced at her cousin now was demanding answers; Sirius licked his lips as an attempt to hold back laughter, task in which he was not completely successful.

'Whenever the guys … well, the guys and Lily, after she and James got together, of course,' he started, 'came with me to babysit you or just for a visit, he was your favourite nap time reader. Needless to say that your father wasn't very fond of him. Didn't like the idea of being replaced. Even if it was for just a few nights. Your mother on the other hand, loved him. Moony here was able to calm you down when nobody else could.'

Closing her eyes, she slapped her own forehead a bit harder than what she intended to.

'Of course! Remus Lupin, the Marauder!' At this point, Sirius snorted and Remus chuckled, awkwardly. She put one of her hand on her hip, reopening her eyes, ignoring what they did and more to herself than to anyone else, she said in a very low tone, 'That's why! Your voice …' And turning her gaze to meet his, she added, 'Anyway, wotcher!' Tonks smiled and waved at him.

However, it did not go unnoticed by Remus.

'Hi, m-my voice, you said?' he asked surprised. _Is that really what you said? My voice? Does this mean you remember my voice?_

His question was left unanswered for in that moment Dumbledore appeared in the hallway they were.

'Have all the members arrived yet?' The Headmaster asked to the trio just outside the room. Sirius pointed to his cousin with his thumb and for a moment she thought that she was the last one to arrive.

'No, actually, now that Tonks is here, Dung is the only one missing.'

'Is he really coming?'

'Yes, sir!' Sirius answered, nodding, in a joyful tone. 'Talked to him myself. Fletcher better show up or he'll have to deal with me.'

Dumbledore nodded and re-started walking towards the room.

'No violence, Sirius. But these are good news, nonetheless. However, we cannot wait for him. Not tonight.' He entered the room followed by the three of them and all the voices stopped at once, as the headmaster looked to all the faces around him, he said with a smile 'Good night, fellow members of the Order of the Phoenix.'

The others replied with the same greeting once Dumbledore finished his sentence. Sirius sat on the empty chair, previously occupied by Remus, leaving the couch he was laying a few minutes ago for Tonks and Lupin. Remus put a hand on her back and with his other one, he offered the sofa to her, whispering 'Ladies first.' She sat down and patted the seat beside her, biting her lip with a smile. He obeyed and sat near her smiling. The couch was not that big and the result of that was Remus's thigh touching hers, even though he was sitting as far from her as the furniture's arm allowed him to.

'The first meeting of the Second Order of the Phoenix has officially begun,' he stated, still smiling as everyone in the room started to clap.

Tonks noticed the eldest of the Weasley offspring across the room and waved at him behind the headmaster, Bill replied with a nervous smile and a small nod. She was really surprised to see him, she did not see him for almost a decade. She was never really close to him, but they had a good, cordial relationship. She was close, however, to his younger brother, Charlie, they had had a very good friendship; in fact, they still did. She searched the room, looking for him, but realised that even if he had been recruited for the Order, it would take a lot of time for one to arrive, coming from Romania, she had no doubt that he would have joined.

'I'm sorry to bring you all here at this late hour, but I'm afraid we do not have a choice. Today's meeting will not take long. We should have another one within the next few days, after I set up other things. Tonight, I just want to let you all know about the main tasks we have along with a short introduction about yourself. I believe you all know me, so Eliphias, my dear friend, if you please. Just name and short introduction of self,' he said, looking at a man by the door.

The man got up before he started to introduce himself.

'My name is Eliphias Doge and I was a member of the first Order of the Phoenix, I work for the Ministry as a jurist.' He smiled at all the presents before sitting down and looked to the witch next to him, waiting for her to introduce herself.

Remus could not stop remembering the days in which he used to read for her. She used to sleep on her side, hugging something, usually a stuffed animal. Being an only daughter made her have many things and among it, she had a lot of stuffed animals and creatures, dragons, unicorns, hippogriffs … He smiled looking at her, life was so much easier back then.

Tonks leant back at the couch with the purpose to see the woman's face, but felt her leg touching Remus's, she glanced uncomfortably at him and smiled when she noticed that he was also looking at her. She turned her eyes away quickly for she did not want to be trapped by his again or did she? _Do I have something in my face that is calling your attention? Is that why you are looking my way? Was it something from when I fell? Sirius would have said something, wouldn't he?_ She sighed for this was the exactly kind of thing Sirius would have found funny. She started twirling her hair, staring at the floor. _But no,_ **_you_** _wouldn't let this happen, would you?_ She bit her lip and decided to take another chance by looking at him again, just to see his eyes staring at her. _Why are you always looking at me?, s_he asked herself with their eyes locked. _Am I that different? Well, of course I am! I was like, seven the last time we saw each other and –_

'Ms Tonks?'

'Yeah?' she replied, still looking inside his eyes, but something was wrong, that was not his voice, not the voice she remembered, not to mention that his lips did not move, or did they? She would not know, for his piercing eyes were all she could see.

'Would you mind introducing yourself?'

_Introducing myself? What are you talking about? You know who I am._ And it hit her. He was not able to talk without moving his lips and that voice was not his. _… Oh, fuck._

'Sorry. It's just …'

_That's why you were looking at me all the time!_ She started blushing heavily when she got up; it was hard not to notice the fabrics of their trousers touching. She cleared her throat with her free hand.

'My name's Tonks and I –' she started, but her cousin interrupted her. Between fake coughs, Sirius said her first name. Her Black temperament got her before she could even think about what she was doing. In a split second, she had whirled to where he was. 'Don't' was the word formed in her lips, but no sound came out of her mouth, the knots of her fingers becoming white because of how strong was her grip around her wand. She took in deep breath to calm herself before her hair started changing colours.

Remus could not help and smiled. _You haven't changed that much, have you? You still hate your name and gets really angry about it._

'Yeah, well, Nymphadora Tonks.' She really hated these official events, she always ended up having to say her name. 'I'm an Auror and a Metamorphmagus.' She heard a few murmurings towards her ability whilst she sat down as fast as she could and almost ended up sitting on Remus's lap. The murmurs made her almost glad that it was hard to focus on anything but the other with their legs touching all the time, not that either he or she had tried really hard.

Amazed at the thought of the little girl he knew being an Auror now, Remus repressed a smile at her and stood up to introduce himself.

'I'm Remus Lupin, I fought for the first Order and I used to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts here at Hogwarts.'

Tonks eyebrows rose. _A_ **_professor_**_? Brilliant!_ She had never been able to keep people quiet and paying attention to her. Well, not to teach at least. She bit her lip, but frowned after an instant. He … used to? So … what did he do now? Her thoughts were taken away by Sirius's voice.

'I'm Sirius Black and I'm a wanted man,' he started with a smirk. Noticing the murmurings, he added, 'and yeah, I'm innocent, if you have any doubt you can talk to Dumbledore. I'd say for you to come to me, but I doubt you'd believe me, so …' He shrugged as the Headmaster nodded with a smile, approving what he had just said.

A few minutes later they had all introduced themselves. There were so many new names that Tonks knew that she'd end up forgetting almost all of them in a week.

'And now, to the main matters of this meeting. First, there's a Department of Mysteries down at the Ministry of Magic, you cannot access it through the elevator, it is on the ninth level. It's room number fifty-three is called Hall of Prophecy and there is a prophecy down on the row ninety-seven that we _cannot allow_ Voldemort to have access to it. One can only imagine what he'll be able to do once he has the information in it so, we need to protect it, _at all costs._ Did I make myself clear?' He heard a few murmurings of agreement in response.

'Due to the fact that he was already there, I asked Kingsley to keep guard tonight, that's the reason he is not here. The ideal would be to have only the Ministry workers there, to avoid bigger suspicions, but I'm afraid it won't be possible. Though, I'd like to ask you, Ministry workers, to do this duty more than the others. I don't believe that we'll need to do it during the day; it'd affect your work and attract suspicion. Though, we will need a couple of members there every night _and_ during all the night.'

Tonks nodded and so did a few other faces, murmuring 'Not a problem,' or something equivalent to it. 'I can do it. Tomorrow, I mean,' she offered. 'I have a day off on Monday so, I can sleep. It's really not a problem.'

'Good!' Dumbledore exclaimed excited. 'Arthur also offered himself, so it'll be the two of you.'

'All right, sounds good,' Tonks replied, wondering who Arthur would be.

At that moment, Mundungus entered the room, murmuring something about being waiting to receive a few cauldrons, but none of the Order members really paid attention to what he was saying.

'Thank you for joining us, Mundungus. And secondly, Harry will be going home in a few days and we will need to keep an eye on him _all the time_.' He stressed the last three words; trouble seemed to follow the Potter boy wherever he went. 'I don't want him stepping outside the house without an Order member knowing exactly where he is, understood?' More nods and murmurs of agreement filled the room. 'Mrs Figg, I believe you are the one that suits this task better, though, I understand that you can't do it alone. Other members will join you on that task. Preferably the ones that Harry doesn't know.' He glared towards Sirius, who was already raising his hand; he would gladly stay with him the whole summer if needed be. 'We can't take the risk of him knowing that he's being followed. He'll either hide from us or demand answers and we can't have these happening. So, any volunteer?' Around half of the members present in the room raised their hands, the other half consist of Ministry workers or people Harry knew.

'Emmeline, fantastic!' he said to the witch sitting on a chair right in front of him.

'The last topic for tonight is that we still need a Headquarters. We can't keep having our meetings here, it'd call too much attention if a lot of adults would suddenly visit Hogwarts at the same time, especially during the summer. Therefore, if any of you are aware of somewhere safe we can go, come talk to me. It just needs to be big enough to fill all of us in a room. Does any of you know of a place that is available for us to use?' Dumbledore looked around the room to see the heads being shaken. He slightly clenched his teeth and straightened his eyes, an almost imperceptible sign of disappointment. 'Well, that was the most urgent subject for today's meeting, but if any of you remember something, please, contact me immediately. I'll come up with a schedule for both tasks as soon as possible and inform every member of their shift, if any of you isn't available in a determined time or day, please come talk to me. Does anyone have any doubt, concern or comment to make?' As their heads shook and he heard a few murmurs of denial, he added with a nod, 'I now end the first meeting of the second Order of the Phoenix.'

The members started to get up and talk, Tonks put a hand on Remus's thigh as she got up, but it was not only until she was already standing that she realised what she had just done, causing her cheeks to grow redder, but she quickly covered it with her abilities. She turned to her cousin and smiled. 'So, where are you going now?' But Sirius could not answer, a few of the members were already out of the door when Dumbledore called them back into the room.

'Wait, yes, I'm sorry. I need to speak with the new recruits, the ones that were not in the First Order, please. It won't take long.'

Remus watched her leave before he started walking outside the room, he turned to his friend and said 'She's really grown up, hasn't she?'

Sirius nodded, smiling in response.

'You know I've been remembering those days, they were really fun. Do you still remember the day you tried to take us to your parents' house? Such a large place and yet they argued that it was no place to _half-bloods_,' he added a sarcastic tone to the last word.

Sirius's eyes told Remus that he was not in the same place as he; frowning, he called him.

'Sirius?'

Black took in a deep breath as if he was gathering courage to do something extremely difficult.

'Yeah, I still remember …' he replied in a low tone.

'What is it?'

He crossed his arms on his chest before saying 'That house is mine.' Closing his eyes, he leant his head on the wall behind him; a moment passed until he continued '… And it's a perfect Headquarters for the Order.'

'… Oh.'

'I'd hate to go back there, but I'm afraid I don't have a choice. I'll wait here and offer it to Dumbledore.'

Remus was not exactly sure of what to say, he knew how much he hated that place, he remembered very well how was the day he was disowned and left that house, how freeing it was for him. That was definitely one of the things he would hate to do the most.

'It really is an excellent Headquarters,' he tried to comfort his best friend, but Sirius merely exhaled heavily with a sad look in his eyes.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Tonks smiled at Bill as both of them approached Dumbledore, once the new recruits were all around the Headmaster, he said 'First of all, welcome again to the Order of the Phoenix. Now, what I'm about to teach you is one of my creations, simple, but extremely useful. I came up with it during the first war. You're all familiar with the Patronus Charm, am I right?'

All of them nodded looking at the elder man.

'Yeah.'

'Sure!'

'Umhm.'

'Good. We will be using a Patronus to send a message; some of you may have already seen this form of communication. It's much faster than an owl and ideal for short distances, but it can go long distances as well.' He took his wand out of the inside pocket of his robes and they imitated him. 'All you have to do is think of the message you wish to send along with a happy memory. Have the message very clear in your mind, the memory does not need to be very strong for it is not being build to be a protector, but a messenger, so a simple happy memory should do. Sometimes the mere thought of your message being delivered is enough. Of course the stronger the memory, the stronger the Patronus. It will work as a protector, but it does not need to be strong enough to this task. Now, let's give it a go, shall we? _Expecto Patronum__!_' A shining phoenix hovered above their heads for a moment before it said in Dumbledore's voice. 'Order of the Phoenix' He smiled warmly at them indicating that it was their turn to cast it.

Tonks remembered the days Sirius would come over with his friends, days in which he and James would attempt to teach her some Quidditch, Remus under a tree's shadow reading and actually babysitting her just beneath them whilst Lily would try to make some sandwiches with Peter stealing ingredients every time she looked away. If she could send a message to them, what would she say? That was such an easy question. 'Choose Sirius,' was the sentence in her mind as all sorts of talking-animals started to pop up around the room and she, too, said '_Expecto Patronum__!_' Smiling as the jack rabbit sat before her and her own voice came out of it with the exact thought she had in her head.

'Very well. I think you all learnt how to do it. If you have any doubts, please just come to me and until the next meeting.' He smiled one more time as they started to leave the room. Tonks found Sirius and Remus by the door. 'You two still around?' she asked surprised. 'Think I'll stop by the Hospital Wing to check up on Mad-Eye, I know he's probably asleep, but I wanna go anyway.' And turning to Remus, she bit her lip and smiled, looking into his eyes. A long moment passed before she was able to say 'Guess we'll be seeing each other frequently now. It was … _nice_ seeing you again. Cheers!' She waved before turning her back to them and she wondered why her heart was beating so bloody fast.

Tonks walked silently through the corridors until she reached the floor, in which the Hospital Wing was placed, she heard a noise. As she kept walking, she looked across the hall she was, searching for the source of it. _Probably it was just Mrs Norris, that creepy cat was always picking on me. I wonder if it's still alive_, she thought not really locating where the noise came from, but when she was turning her head back to the path she was following, she felt her body colliding with an armour placed in that hallway. She heard the huge noise of metal hitting wood when the armour fell on the floor as she felt her face heating up in pain.

She let out a moan when her hand touched the sore spot in her nose. Luckily, she was not bleeding, pulling out her wand, she got up and put the armour back in its place. Mentally reminding herself to heal her nose when she arrived home, Tonks re-started walking.

She spotted her old mentor as soon as she passed through the Hospital Wing's door. He was laying his back to her in one of the last beds, she slowly approached him, there was another occupied bed, but its curtain was pulled. Being really careful and paying a lot of attention, she was able to get to his bed without tripping on anything.

There were spots in his head in which his hair was missing and, in Tonks's opinion, he was much thinner. She bit her lip as a prank came to her mind; she casted a silencing charm on Madam Pomfrey's door and kept her wand at the ready just to make sure before leaning very close to his ear.

'**Wotcher!**' bellowed Tonks, causing him to almost jump off of his skin and immediately reach for his wand. The occupant of the other bed would also have woken up if he had not been given a sleeping potion. Moody relaxed when he heard the sound of a laughter he knew so well. 'What happened to "constant vigilance"?' she teased him, crossing her arms on her chest.

'The lack of it, that's what _obviously_ happened! But don't _you_ come talk to me about constant vigilance, young lady!'

'Relax! It was just a joke! No need to give me a lecture on it.'

'What are you doing here?' he growled at her. Never one to express very well his feelings, he was; he simply did not expect to see her there.

Tonks raised her eyebrows and just stared at him for a moment.

'You know, I didn't expect you to be all "Oh, Tonks! Sooo good to see you!" But a simple "Thanks for stopping by," would do.'

'Just didn't expect to see you around, especially in the middle of the night. What time is it?'

'A bit over half past two,' she answered looking at her watch. 'The m-meeting just en-ended,' she informed him and repressing a yawn, she hoped he would catch her cue.

And he did, glancing proudly at her, he said 'You're in the Order. Who invited you? Would have done it myself hadn't they kept me here,' he asked, wondering who would have thought about asking his protégée to join the association.

'Yes, I am!' she replied happily. 'Sirius did. Showed up at my parents' house, guess he was hoping to drag mum and dad with him, but I was there so, he got the next best thing.' Opening her arms, Tonks pointed to herself with her hands.

'Still can't believe he's innocent.'

'Yeah, shocking, I know.' She did not want to let him know that she knew for a while now that he was not guilty, at least not for now. 'Anyway, I should get going, it's late and I already have a mission tomorrow night. So, you OK, aren't you?'

Moody nodded whilst saying 'Fine. Getting better.'

'All right, see you soon, then.' She started to leave and took off the spell from Madam Pomfrey's room.

'Tonks?'

'Yeah?'

'Thanks for stopping by.'

'Don't mention it!' She smiled, winking at him before leaving.

In the meantime, Sirius and Remus approached Dumbledore.

'I think I have a place that could be the Order's Headquarters.'

The Headmaster's eyes lighted up.

'These are very good news! Where is it?'

'It's in London. My parents' old house. Really doubt they could connect it with us, we'd be very well hidden.'

Dumbledore pondered for a moment before answering.

'We'll go there tomorrow, it's late and the protective spells would take more than just a few moments. For now, go back to your hiding and I'll owl you as soon as I'm ready to go.'

'All right, I'll be waiting.'

The echo of the last voices was fading as the remaining members were leaving the castle. Sirius turned himself into his Animagus's form, it was always easier to forget his problems when he was in his dog shape. He ran through the corridors with Remus behind him. Lupin found himself thinking about the old days once again, for some reason, he could not stop thinking about her, she had grown up to become a very beautiful young lady.

Lost in his thoughts, Remus barely registered that they had reached the gate. When did time pass so fast? He looked at Sirius and sighed.

'You know if I could I'd invite you to sleep at my place, but the last thing we need is they knowing where you are and my house would be one of the first places they'd search for you.'

Sirius barked happily and sat beside him, he would rather stay as close as possible to Harry anyway.

'I'll see you tomorrow. Let me know when Dumbledore contacts you, I want to come along.'

Sirius nodded and barked again.

'All right. Good night then,' he wished before Dispparating.

In his house, Remus could not take a pink-haired girl out of his mind. When did she become so … grown up? She was a very beautiful … and smart too. Merlin, she was an Auror! _Not to mention how attractive she is – I mean, she's a woman, it's just natural that I noticed …_ **_Since when do you pay attention to this?_** _Godric, shut up! She's Sirius's cousin!_ He rolled in bed for a good amount of time before he was finally able to sleep, telling himself that he was just thinking about her because he was surprised to suddenly see her, she had changed so much. However, it did not stop him from having the same dream a certain girl in the centre of London was having. A pink-haired witch that kept telling herself before she was able to sleep that she could not take her favourite kip time reader from her mind because she was surprise to suddenly see him, he had changed so much. Was he really checking her out? Could he be …? No, definitely not. A bloke of the likes of Remus Lupin would never do such things.

In their dreams, they were in her old room, many years ago and he was reading for her once again, until she fell asleep and he laid a kiss upon her forehead. 'Goodnight, love,' he had said and they were not a teenager and a little girl anymore, they were themselves. They were in the present.


	4. 3 Grimmauld Place

**A/N:** Hello again, everyone! Sorry for the late update, but I've been really busy these days. That and my mind doesn't really work chronologically, I wrote a few things from future chapters (been working on the last one and the epilogue) so, the waiting will be worthy, I promise you that!

Anyway, who said that I was able to stop posting on special dates, huh? ;) So, this one is for Teddy Remus Lupin! 'A great wizard in the making!' Literally … Happy birthday, Teddy! ^_^ He would be fourteen today.

I'll try to update again real soon (2nd of May is pretty close, isn't it?) and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 3: Grimmauld Place<strong>

The feeling that the Order was now officially reunited and they were doing something useful to the Wizarding world took over Remus and Tonks, renewing their energies as much as the dreamless night they just had, or at least the one they thought they did.

The afternoon of the following day found Tonks lying lazily on her couch, the previous night had marked a new period in her life. She was trying to decide on what to do with her messy living-room; this new way of living would really require a higher level of organisation from her and what better place to start organising your life than your own home? If someone asked, she would say that she simply did not have the time to organise everything, even though she would need only a few flicks from her wand to get it all in place, but deep down, she knew that the mess in her small flat provided a sensation of home, reminding her of her own father.

A mischievous smile appeared in her lips as the solution to her problem came to her mind. A single flick of her wand and a few of her things moved into place.

'Perfect!'

Not everything was organised, just enough to see that it was still messy and for her to know where to search when she needed something.

The report on her desk was waiting to be read, but she decided to give herself a break, she would already have the whole night working and the next day off so, she could spare a few hours relaxing now. Turning to the stereo, she waved her wand and her favourite album of The Weird Sisters began to play.

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><p>Sirius owled Dumbledore on that same afternoon and the pair of them agreed to meet Remus at the entrance of the number twelve, Grimmauld Place.<p>

Not many minutes had passed and the three of them were standing where the number twelve was supposed to be. Taking out his wand, Sirius took a deep breath and casted the few spells to reveal the house, just like he did so many times in the past. With his father being a control freak when it came to their house, Orion gave the house all kind of magical protection he could, which was exactly why Sirius knew it was so perfect for the Order's Headquarters. There was no safer house in the whole United Kingdom.

The neglect was obvious to anyone who looked at the house's exterior, dirty walls and grimy windows would give away the fact that the Black residence was not inhabited. Sirius could still remember very well the last day he had put a foot in there. A huge fight with his parents almost twenty years before; he looked like he was going to take off some tufts of his own hair, he opened the door as a good host should do. For many years now, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black had only one resident, Kreacher, the house-elf. Practically insane nowadays, after so much time living on his own having no living soul to interact with, just the portrait of his previous mistress, Walburga Black.

'Homenum Revelio!' Dumbledore casted the spell as soon as the trio stepped inside the house. After a few seconds of silence, they relaxed; the house was empty.

Remus touched a piece of furniture nearby as they entered the house and raising his fingers full of dust, he asked 'How long since someone at least attempted to clean this place?'

'No idea,' Sirius answered, shrugging, somewhat moody for having to enter that place again and crossing his arms over his chest to avoid touching anything as if he would be contaminated. 'My lovely mother died about ten years ago and, as long as I know, no one else entered this place.' He continued to walk noticing the differences from when he last lived there. 'They came to me in Azkaban to tell me that I had inherited … this … place' he scrunched while saying the last two words, 'and our old house-elf. Must've gone away somewhere once he realised there was no one else here … Now that I think of it, he needs to serve our family until he's freed or dies …' Sirius shrugged and continued to walk. 'Yeah, don't know and don't really ca―' he was interrupted as they entered the next room, leaving the hall.

'**YOU!** HOW DARE YOU ENTER THIS HOUSE?'

Remus and Sirius frowned looking at each other before start running to where the sound was coming from. A painting was pointing at him while shouting her lungs out.

'BLOOD TRAITOR! AND HE BROUGHT ALONG THE HALFBREED!'

'Shut up, you bloody woman! SHUT UP!' Sirius stood there in front of his mother's portrait for a long moment in a battle of insults against the painting.

Lupin and Dumbledore were left watching the spectacle until Remus took out his wand and casted a Silencing Charm on it, but without luck, the woman simply got even angrier with it. However, the Headmaster noticed curtains around the frame and walked to the painting with the purpose of trying to stop the screaming.

The task proved to be more difficult than what he had imagined it to be and Remus ran to help him, Mrs Black kept yelling at them and the curtains seemed to not really want to be closed. It was not until Sirius joined them that they finally were able to close them and shut the portrait.

Silence echoed as they carefully walked towards the kitchen, they did not want to give the portrait a reason to wake up and start it all over again.

'I believe we have found a great place for our meetings,' Dumbledore stated happily as they entered and he saw the big table in the middle.

'Indeed,' Lupin agreed leaning against the door and crossing his arms over his chest.

Sirius nodded sadly, whilst walking around the room, this was the confirmation that he would have to live in a place he had hated for so many years. Remus noticed the sadness of his best mate and wished that things were different, that they could find another place for the Order meetings, but there was no hope to find a better place, not after seeing how good the number twelve, Grimmauld Place fit.

'We still need more magical protection casted here. The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix will always be one of the main targets to Voldemort and his followers. However, we ought to make sure that they don't already know we are here,' turning to Sirius, he continued 'If you could stay here for the night and if everything goes well, we can start with the more powerful ones in the morning.'

Sirius nodded one more time.

'Not a problem.'

'I'll keep you company,' Remus patted his shoulder. 'We'll take shifts.'

'Excellent!' The Headmaster clapped once and started to walk outside. Sirius exhaled heavily rubbing the back of his neck.

'Gonna go upstairs, check on my room. Wanna come?'

'Sure.' They had already climbed one flight of stairs when Remus asked 'Do you think it will be very different? What do you reckon your parents did with it after you left?'

'Nah,' Sirius laughed. 'Made sure that old hag wouldn't be able to touch it.'

They reached the last landing and Sirius smirked as he opened the door with his name on it. The room was almost just like he had left it. Clothes on the floor, which he left there in his hurry to leave the house and the most important: all his banners, posters and pictures were still on the walls.

'Now we're talking!' He smiled despite the fact that his teenager self hated to live in that place. Now, at least it was allowing him some sort of comfort from the hiding.

Remus slightly shook his head with a smile.

'Do you think she tried to take them out?'

'Oh, 'm sure she did!' said Sirius, looking around the room. 'Bet she tried to throw away every tiny little thing that reminded her of me.' He stepped forward to have a better look of one of the pictures, four Hogwarts' students having the time of their lives as they laughed at the camera. 'Permanent Sticking Charm,' he stated as he tried to take it off.

'No matter how much she tried, she would never take it out.'

Sirius clenched his teeth as he looked at the shortest of the boys, it was already far too painful to be there, if he allowed his hate for that man to take over, he would not be able to handle so, he looked away, glancing now at the Gryffindor banners and Remus did the same, both of them glad that he chose not to be like his pure-blood parents.

A quiet sound of footsteps brought them back to reality and they met each other's gaze, alarmed. Dumbledore had made sure that the house was empty as soon as they entered, didn't he? And the house was unplottable, nobody could find it. Right?

Their hearts were beating very fast as they left Sirius's room to the hallway. From where they were, they could see a small shadow climbing down the stairs. Sirius frowned, why there was something familiar about that figure?

He stopped abruptly when he reached the first steps, causing the other Marauder to collide with his back, but he barely moved. '… Kreacher?'

'Kreacher wonders who that might be, he is talking to Kreacher, but Kreacher doesn't know who he is,' said the House-elf in a deep bullfrog, facing his feet. 'Kreacher lives to serve the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.'

Remus and Sirius exchanged a surprise look, neither of them would think that the house-elf would still be living in the house, not after it was abandoned so long ago.

'Kreacher wonders if he is worthy of talking to Kreacher, he talks as if he knew Kreacher, but Kreacher doesn't remember him.'

'Worthy of talking to you? Who do you thin― You still believe in that crap that my paren― I am worthy of talking to you! I'm Sirius, Kreacher! Sirius Black!'

'Sirius, calm down. He's probably jus―'

'Calm down? Calm down? Did you hear what he just said?'

'I did, I'm not deaf, but I think you shou―'

'Get out of here!' Sirius turned to Kreacher and ordered in a fit of rage. On top of everything, now he would need to deal with one more reminder of the awful life his parents led?

Remus could not help but to smile as he remembered the last time he saw a living member of the Black family had an explosion out of something that was rather small, although, neither of them would ever admit that the matter was small. Tonks's hair growing orange just because Sirius had murmured her name during the meeting and now, Sirius yelling at the house-elf because of the way he was brought up, the vision of blood purity that his parents had. Not to mention how Walburga's portrait had reacted when she saw Sirius in the house. There was something in the Black blood that would lead to extreme reactions, whoever married one of them would have a hard time, but then, whoever did out of love and not because of the purity of their blood would have a marvellous relationship, the extreme reactions were not only because of anger, Remus knew how much Sirius could love his friends and he had no doubt that if Sirius ever found someone to love would have been something wonderful.

The elf continued to go down stairs at Sirius command.

'It's Kreacher's old master, the boy who left the house. Kreacher wonders why he is back …'

'AND MAKE US SOME DINNER!'

Remus glared at Sirius, crossing his arms, but he ignored his friend. If he would have to put up with him, at least he could enjoy the good side of it.

* * *

><p>Half an hour before the scheduled time, Tonks found herself ready and anxious to start her first mission as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Arthur, she was reminded by Kingsley, was her friend Charlie's father. He would be her partner for the night and for what she could remember Charlie saying, he seemed like a cool parent, a bit crazy for Muggle things true, but at least he could be a laugh.<p>

She Apparated at the Atrium and headed towards the lifts. There was no purpose in waiting alone at home, if she was going to spend her time anxious, at least she should do something good out of it and try to learn something useful about the shifts they were doing at the Hall of the Prophecy.

The Ministry was nearly empty at that Sunday night and she started to sing one of the many The Weird Sisters' songs she had heard earlier. Not a soul was at the lift she entered, which just made everything louder, the sound of the golden grilles closing, the lift jangling and rattling as it was descending and the result of that was Tonks becoming even more nervous than what she already was. Not even when the lift was in the second floor, she allowed herself to smile, it seemed she was far too tense for that. She was leaving the comfort zone that the Department of Law and Enforcement provided and entering an unknown territory, where the Dark Lord was a constant menace.

When the female voice announced 'Department of Mysteries,' she stepped outside the lift and walked to the plain black door in front of her. Opening it, she found herself in a large, circular room. Everything in there was black; ceiling, floor, walls, a few candles with blue flames were floating between a dozen of doors, equally black.

There was something odd about that situation, Dumbledore did not say anything about lots of rooms, how could she know where to go? Was she in the right place? She looked back at the lift behind her, but she was sure of what the voice said, this was the Department of Mysteries. Leaning against the open door, she stared at the other ones, searching for something that could let her know where she should go.

Her Auror training told her not to let go of the open door, it was the only thing she knew that was safe. Who knew what could happen once she closed that door and stood there by herself in that black room? Tonks draw her wand out and was about to try to open one of the doors with a spell, so she would not need to walk to it when one of the doors swung open. Kingsley walked in the circular room and looked at her with a grin.

'You arrived early.'

'Yeah … Didn't want to be late in my first mission and I didn't have anything interesting to do at home, so I decided to come and see if there was something I could learn about the shift or whatever.' She blushed, but remembered to quickly cover it with her abilities as she shrugged. 'Didn't expect to see you around, though,' she added. 'You were the one on guard yesterday too, right?'

Kingsley nodded.

'I volunteered for today too.' He smiled. 'Nothing interesting to do at home, you see.' He winked at her and let go of his door then asked 'Close the door.'

'But –'

'Go on, trust me.'

Tonks closed it and the room swirled around them; the blue candles making blurs in their visions, she kept her wand at hand until it stopped.

'The Hall of the Prophecy,' Kingsley called as if asking someone, Tonks arched an eyebrow at him and was about to mock him when a door opened and he walked over with a smile on his face.

'Wow!' Tonks exclaimed. 'That's practical.'

'It certainly is. Anyway, came out here to show you the way.' He held the door opened to her as she walked towards him. 'Your partner is already here, so you can go inside. Corridor Ninety-seven.'

'Thanks.' She smiled as she stepped inside, glancing at the tons of sphere prophecies in the room.

'Oh! And Tonks?'

'Yeah?'

'Remember: Constant Vigilance!' he said, causing her to roll her eyes at him, but joined him and both chuckled.

Twirling her wand, she started to walk inside the room once Kingsley had closed the door. It was dark, so Tonks decided to light up her wand. 'Lumos!' Illuminating the corridors numbers, she paid attention at everything, but the room was as silent as a graveyard, the only sound in it was her own footsteps.

After a while another sound of footsteps joined her own, but there was something metallic about this one, Tonks would recognise it anywhere in the world.

'Mad-Eye?' she asked, frowning. 'But I thought … Mr Weasley – Hey, wow!'

Moody was pointing his wand directly at her chest and she kept a firm grip around her own. What was he doing?

'What was the first thing you ever said to me?' he asked not lowering his wand.

'But what are – Why are yo―'

'Answer the question!'

Tonks smiled recalling her very first day of Auror training.

'I'm gonna drive you mad. Oh wait! I won't. You already are.' She allowed herself to laugh, seeing his face now and how similar it was to the one he looked at her at that time, the regret for choosing such question was clear in his eyes or was it because she knew him so well? 'That was a good one, you know it was.'

Moody ignored her altogether.

'I had to make sure it was you,' he explained, finally lowering the wand.

'Yeah, but … Metamorphmagus, Mad-Eye. Couldn't you just have asked me to change my hair colour or something?'

'We've been through this already! You're not the only one in the world.' He re-started to walk toward the corridor they were supposed to keep guard.

'Yeah, but –' she started, walking behind him.

'This is serious business, Nymphadora!'

'Don't call me that!' Her orange hair was giving away her anger and she clenched her teeth to try to calm herself, morphing her hair back to pink, she knew he was right. But well, how many times had she told him not to call her that?

'If you showed some respect to –'

'Are you saying I don't respect you? You're really high on my list of admirable people and you know that!'

'You could at leas―'

'OK, OK. Look …' she interrupted him, raising her hands as a sign of redemption and stopping to walk. 'I'm sorry, all right? Though, you know you shouldn't have done it too. What do you say if we both stop all of this and get to your "serious business"?'

Moody glared at her, searching for any sign that she was mocking of him, finding none, he re-started to walk.

'Fine!'

With hushed steps to catch up with him, Tonks lit the corridors near them before saying 'So this is why Shacklebolt said "Constant Vigilance"! Makes way more sense now … Yeah …' Tonks smiled despite the fact that she had not been able to catch such a clear cue. 'You never answered my question, though. What are you doing here? Mr Weasley was supposed to be my partner today and you were supposed to be recovering.'

'I … I thought that with you doing the shift …' Had he just admitted it? 'Madam Pomfrey allowed me to leave as long as I promised to eat properly and stopped by tomorrow for a few more exams,' he added quickly hoping that she had not noticed the first part.

But something like that would not just go unnoticed by her.

'Don't you think I can take care of myself?'

'S'not that! You've proved me loads of times that you can.'

'Good,' she interrupted him, crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for his real answer.

'Just thought you'd be better in your first mission with someone that knows you better. Someone needs to make sure you won't break all the prophecies.'

'Were you worried about me?' she grinned, taking Moody out of his comfort zone was one of her favourite things to do.

'Never said that!'

'You were! You _so_ were! Are you growing soft, Moody?' she teased him with a grin, but he simply ignored her once more.

'This is the corridor we're supposed to keep guard.' He pointed to the number ninety-seven just above them. 'Every hour one of us will take a walk to the door and back, searching for everything, did you hear me? Everything.'

'Aye aye, captain,' Tonks chuckled, despite losing a whole night of sleep, she knew that with Moody as her partner, she would end up at least having some fun.


	5. 4 Trigger

**A/N:** Hi, guys! As promised, May 2nd and the fourth chapter! Today is an incredibly sad day to every Potterhead and I hope that you guys find at least some comfort with what happens in this chapter to your day. They will all still live as long as we allow them to live in our hearts.

Yeah, and I also love your reviews, all of you. Thank you, so much!

Enjoy! ^_^

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 4: Trigger<strong>

It was not until a week later that Professor Dumbledore was finally able to cast every protection spell he wanted and schedule the next Order meeting at the new headquarters. Implanting all information in a being's soul was proved to be so much more complicated than Remus had thought to be and awfully more toilsome. Although he had been spending the nights at home, Lupin spent most of his days at the Grimmauld Place, keeping company to Sirius so he would not go too unhappy.

During the week, Tonks had another night shift watching the prophecy and this second time, Mad-Eye was actually scheduled to patrol the corridor with her. She did not mind having her mentor with her, but she could not wait until she was able to finally take a mission without him, as if she would finally be able to prove herself to the Order. However, the fact that Mad-Eye was now officially retired, after this year's events, and thus, with a lot of free time, was not helping her, even though she knew it was just a matter of time.

Due the fact the Fidelius Charm was now cast, the members were supposed to arrive in groups of two or three and with half an hour between each group, in order to avoid bigger suspicions.

As they were at the headquarters when the spell was casted, Remus and Sirius were the first ones to know about it, followed by the Weasleys and the Hogwarts' professors. Needing to arrive a few hours before the meeting, Moody, Tonks and Shacklebolt were the next ones.

Even though, she came to dislike nearly everything that was related to her mother's side of her family, Tonks found herself eager to see the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. She hastened Kingsley to leave the Auror Headquarters half an hour earlier until he finally gave in, but, much to her dismay, the result of it was the pair of them waiting for over a quarter of hour for Mad-Eye at the Apparation point. They could not take the risk of having all members Apparating in front of the house so, each group was given a different spot to apparate and they would walk their way to the final destination.

'They're here!' Sirius shouted as soon as he saw the trio of Aurors walking outside the house. He had been waiting for them to arrive and was supposed to let Dumbledore know when the next group of members arrived. The headmaster left to meet them shortly after.

'Good evening,' he greeted in his usual calm tone, but with a firm grip around the wand inside his robes.

The voices that replied the same greeting could not have been more different. Tonks's clearly showing her excitement, Moody's sounding more like a dog barking and Kingsley's deep one.

'What was the first thing I said to Alastor Moody after Voldemort's first downfall?'

Of course he would make sure the members were themselves. Did she really expect to arrive, receive the address and step in? Dumbledore would not just say to anyone where the headquarters of the powerful Order of the Phoenix was.

'It's true. Harry's alive,' Moody growled his reply and the headmaster nodded.

Turning to Kingsley, he questioned 'Who asked Kingsley Shacklebolt to patrol the night Voldemort rose again?'

As he answered 'Arthur Weasley,' Tonks's curiosity came out. What would the headmaster ask her? They barely knew each other and he had not asked her to do anything, not directly, at least. Would he go back inside and call Sirius to ask her something? Or perhaps Mad-Eye, the headmaster already knew that he really was Moody. She was brought back to the present by the professor's voice.

'What made Nymphadora Tonks get angry during her presentation at the first meeting of the Order of the Phoenix?'

Bloody hell, he was good at this. Did he think about the questions before or he simply thought of something at the time?

Scrunching her nose at the third word he said, she answered 'My cousin Sirius saying my given name,' hoping the headmaster would catch her cue and not call her by it anymore since there was no way she would correct him.

Dumbledore finally smiled and opened his arms as a welcoming sign. In the lowest tone he knew they would be able to hear, he said 'Welcome to the new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix! It is located at the number twelve, Grimmauld Place.' As soon as he finished, Tonks's eyes lifted up and she saw a whole new house coming out of nowhere, between the numbers eleven and thirteen. 'Shall we?' the headmaster invited when the house was fully there and opened the door before waiting for answers.

In the house, between lots of red-headeds, Tonks soon spotted someone that she had missed, she was walking straight to him when somebody else intercepted her way.

'Missed me?' Sirius asked with a grin.

She needed to shake her head in order to organise her thoughts, taking a second to focus on him.

'Sirius. Hi. Um, yeah, I did.'

He frowned.

'Are you sure? Doesn't seem like …'

Tonks rolled her eyes at him before hugging him tightly. He had been her favourite cousin since she could remember the fact that he existed; not that she was in touch with any other, but spending time with him was something she had always enjoyed to do. Knowing that he was innocent and not being able to be with him every now and again during the beginning of the year had already been painful enough.

'Course I did!' she said, excited.

'That's better,' he replied as he wrapped her arms around her. 'I missed you too,' Finally letting go of each other, he added 'Come I'll introduce you to everyone.'

And that was when Tonks realised they had been left alone in the hall, even Kingsley and Mad-Eye were nowhere to be seen. As they re-started to walk, she asked 'So, you've been here all this time?'

'Mhmm …' Sirius answered, rather cheerless. 'It's … safe here.' What else could he say? It was far from being the best place for him and he could never fully get pleasure from being stuck in that house, but it was safe and that's what was keeping him there.

'Yeah …' She could see how miserable he was, in the sound of his voice and in the way he looked at the floor when he talked. _Just the beginning_, she told herself, _with time, he will get used to it._

Tonks was about to tell him that things would improve, that that house would become a blissful place for him when she heard a step right behind her, a strong one, as if it was produced by a strong and hard shoe, probably boots made of dragon hide, just like the ones she was wearing. Before she had time to turn around and see who it was or even grab her wand, a pair of hands was on her eyes, blocking her vision with a really firm grip.

'He said he'll only let you go when you know who he is,' Sirius informed as Tonks crossed her arms over her chest and exhaled heavily.

'Fine,' she accepted, fairly annoyed and began to analyse the amount of information in her hands as a sound of someone trying to hold back laughter came to her ears. _All right, not many people from the Order would find this funny._

She tried to remember who was at the first meeting and immediately a pair of amber eyes came to her mind. Remus looking at her when she was supposed to introduce herself, she started to blush, but covered it with her abilities. He was the only one in there that perhaps would like to do this to her, OK, not the only one, Bill probably would like too, but possibly the only one that would have Sirius as his accomplice, then again, when Sirius ever refused a prank? Remus was not a bad try so, she decided to give him a shot.

'Remus?'

Sirius laughed.

'No, cuz. Not even close.'

Well, if it was not Remus, it probably was 'Bill?'

'Um, good one, but still a no. Closer, though.'

Placing her hands on the ones covering her eyes, she re-started examining what she had. _Dragon hide boots and … big, strong and calloused hands as if no pomade could heal years of … riding … dragons_. _Closer to Bill than to Remus, of course!_ How could I not think of him before?

'Charlie!' She was not guessing anymore, she knew it was him. He let go of her face and immediately, she jumped on him, arms wrapping tightly around his neck.

'Finally!' He hugged her back closely. 'Thought you had forgot about me!' he teased her. 'How're you doing, Tonksie?'

'I would never forget about you!' It was now her turn to tease him. 'You disappeared for so long that you're no longer one of the firsts I think of.' She winked at him. 'And _Tonksie_? Where the bloody hell did that come from?' It sounded funny and she knew it was not something that Charlie would come up with; no, he had a different way to pull somebody's leg.

'And now this Remus bloke is?' He looked at Sirius behind him, a slightly scrunched nose and a crumple between his brows showing he was unsure. 'That friend of yours, isn't it?' Sirius nodded and Charlie grinned at her. 'Well, I disappeared because I was working, you of all people should know how work can make you walk away from the ones you love,' A mocked irony in his tone as he winked back. 'Tonksie … Actually, Fred … or was it George? No, think it was Fred.'

Fred and George, the twins, she could never forget about them. Even though they were at Hogwarts only during her last two years, they already were masters at the art of pranking.

'Anyway, one of the twins came up with it and both of them kept saying it.' He shrugged. 'Got stuck in my mind, but if you don't like it, I'll stop,' he added quickly, raising his arms in a redemptive sign, Charlie knew very well what she was capable of, especially towards names she did not like.

Not far from where they were, in the kitchen, a discussion was taking place. Molly had questioned what they rather eat for dinner after the meeting and most of the Weasleys presented a different choice. Remus was sitting on a chair near the door, amusedly smiling as the siblings fought for their preference to be chosen. He had not had any sibling and could do no more than imagine how life was when you had someone to share your parents with, not that he did not want to, but it seemed that after the tragedy that happened to him when he was just an infant intervened in every side of his life.

'I, yeah, well …' Why was she blushing when they reached the 'Remus' topic? She re-started to walk so she would not have to really look at Charlie. They were just friends, weren't they? Could they be considered friends? No, perhaps not. Not yet. They did not really know each other, except from those years in a remote past. 'You can say we … know each other from a long time … and …' Suddenly, her boot made contact with an obstacle and a yell escaped her lips before she could even think of what possibly was on her way.

She was not paying attention to where she was going so, naturally, she tripped, but before she could hit the floor, Charlie held her and lifted her up with both of his arms, bridal style, at the same moment Walburga's shouts filled the corridor.

'BLOOD TRAITORS! SHAME OF MY FLESH! DIRTYING THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK! HOW DARE YOU?'

'How many times have I told you to SHUT UP?' Sirius shouted back at her and rushed to try to close the curtains and silence the portrait.

'Still tripping on everything in sight?' Charlie taunted her.

'Some things never change,' Tonks reminded him and the pair started to laugh.

Remus heard the two distinct shouts and turned his head to look at what on earth had happened in the corridor that could have triggered Mrs Black's shouting. By the time he put his eyes on the people on the hall, he saw Charlie holding Dora, both of them laughing as if they were having the time of their lives, his heart skipped a beat. _Some things never change. _There was obviously some sort of history between those two. He turned back to the kitchen. He was the one who used to protect her back then, whenever Sirius wanted to take her for a ride in his motorcycle or when James thought it would be a great idea to run a contest of whom would dare to levitate her the highest. The poor girl would not be alive to this day if it wasn't for him and Lily. In spite of her being still young, he had no right to interfere with whom she should date or not. The Weasley did seem to be a nice suitor, but … Of course this kind of feeling would return with her presence, but why in Merlin's name was his heart beating so fast? He focused back on the Weasley's arguement crossing his arms over his chest, but he was unable to do so.

'What the hell is that?' Tonks asked as Charlie put her down on the floor.

'It's a … ahn, umbrella stand … I suppose.'

'It looks more like a troll's leg.' She frowned as they entered the kitchen. 'Wotcher, Remus!' Finally. She was finally talking with him. The one she zoomed to as soon as she entered the house.

The corner of Lupin's lips turned into a smile before he could even realise he was smiling. That pink-haired girl biting her bottom lip and grinning at him … Why was he uneasy again?

'Oh, hm, 'e―' He put his hand on his own mouth and cleared his throat. 'Hello, Ms Tonks.' He smiled at the sight of her, rubbing the back of his neck disconcerted. Were his eyes tricking him or were her eyes really shining? 'Was it you who made Sirius's mother … upset?'

'Come, let's sit over there.' Charlie nodded politely at him and Remus returned the gesture.

'Wait a sec.' She barely looked at him. 'Sirius's moth― I – Wait – What?'

'It's, hm. Mrs Black's portrait,' he explained. 'To see her son living here after disowning him … It's just … She's not taking it very well.' Taking his wand out of his pocket, Remus stepped towards the door. 'I ought to help him.'

Tonks watched for a second as Remus walked out of the door. She had not completely understood what had occurred, she had never heard of a portrait to get that angry over something that did not seem like that big deal. She knew that whatever it was, Remus and Sirius were entirely capable of dealing with it by themselves and she really wanted to talk to Charlie, but it was something from deep down that made her turn around and look at Charlie. Pointing a finger to him, she ordered 'Don't move, be right back.'

Guided by Walburga's shouts, she shortly found where Sirius and Remus were.

'So, this is my dear … _auntie_,' smirked Tonks.

'Don't mention kinship!' Sirius knew the woman would only get madder if she knew more disowned members of the Black Family were in the house. He could not have been more right.

'_AUNTIE_? YOU ARE NO RELATIVE OF MINE!'

'Oh, I am.' She was actually enjoying teasing the painting.

'TONKS!'

'What? She can't harm me!'

'TONKS? SO YOU ARE THAT STUPID DAUGHTER OF DRUELLA'S FILTHY DAUGHTER WHO RAN AWAY WITH THAT **MUDBLOOD**!'

'DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY PARENTS LIKE THAT!' Tonks's hair turned into orange faster than a heartbeat.

'TOLD YOU!'

'SHUT UP, SIRIUS!'

Remus rolled his eyes as a tired sigh passed through his lips. He was the only one now making any effort to seal the curtains. Lost in their arguement, the other three kept yelling at each other. None of his classes at Hogwarts had achieved this level of insubordination; they were worse than children.

'HAD YOU LISTENED TO ME –'

'MY NOBLE HOUSE IS FILLED WITH BLOOD TRAITORS!'

'SHE'D STILL BE YELLING!' She was now so ginger that if the Weasleys appeared now, she could blend easily.

'SHUT UP! _Both of you!_' Remus made himself be listened.

'BLOOD TRAITORS AND HALF-BREEDS!'

'None of this will take any of you somewhere. Now, help me close these.'

Sirius and Tonks glared at each other, duelling silently with their eyes. None of them would say a word, but they knew Remus was right so, they joined forces with him to try to shut Walburga.

Three of them against one made the job far easier than when Remus was alone in the task, soon they had it all closed and silence fell upon the house, at last.

'Lovely mother you've got,' muttered Tonks, rubbing one boot against the other as if trying to remove an inexistent spot of dirt.

'Tell me about it,' Sirius replied, admiring the tattered curtains.

Even though weary from the previous event, the cousins chuckled, exchanging a look as though they were eager to have another arguement like the one that had just taken place by the staircase. Tonks focused to turn her hair back to pink, apologies were clear in their eyes, but both far too stubborn to voice it.

Remus rolled his eyes at them again as they walked back to the kitchen. The bond those two shared was not something that could be found often, to be fighting at each other and laughing minutes later, he envied them, he wished he had something similar to that.

'Have you tried taking her out of there and … I don't know, burning it?' Tonks chuckled, she knew that her cousin would not think it to be bad a idea and seemed like an end the old hag deserved.

'More times than I'm able to count.' Sirius sighed. 'She made sure that she would never leave this house.' He suspected it to be some sort of revenge against the posters in his own room.

'So, we're stuck here with her. Dog's bollocks!' quipped Tonks.

'What the hell was that all about?' Charlie asked as soon as they stepped a foot in the kitchen.

'Oh, you guys heard that, huh?' She blushed, realising that there was not another sound in the room. All eyes were on them, keen to know what happened.

'How could we not?' Although, he was rather tall, the boy seemed to be one of the youngest in there.

'Sirius's mother going crazy.' She smiled looking at Sirius in the other side of the table as she finally reached the chair near Charlie.

'We got that,' Charlie teased her.

'OK and maybe some other … Black … temperament coming out too …' she said as if she was admitting something.

Charlie laughed.

'You'll never change!' he pointed out and Tonks rolled her eyes at him. 'Oh, yeah, sorry. Never introduced you guys.'

He got up and started to point to the members of his family. 'You already know Mum and Dad,' the couple across the table smiled warmly at her and she smiled back at them, 'that's Ginny,' the little girl waved at her, 'and Ron,' Tonks winked at the boy who had talked earlier and his ears became redder than a Gryffindor flag, 'you remember Bill,' they exchanged a polite nod, smiling, 'and last but not least, Fred and George,' the twins grinned at her, their eyes were showing that they were planning something and she could only wonder what it was.

'Wotcher!' She waved at them. 'I'm Tonks. _Just_ Tonks.' She glared at Sirius before he could even have the chance to say her first name. 'Lovely to finally meet Charlie's brothers.' she smiled. 'And sister,' she added quickly looking at the girl near her parents. 'All …' she started to count the gingers around the table, 'five … Hang on! You always said that you guys were seven …' She frowned looking back at Charlie, if they were seven, there should be six of his siblings by the table, and this time he became red. Mrs Weasley got up and pretended to be doing something by the cooker, Mr Weasley hurriedly joined her, putting one arm around her as she seemed to be cleaning a few tears.

'Yeah, there's also … Percy,' he lowered his tone and the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped twenty degrees, they all looked nervously at her, but when she looked back, searching for answers, they all pretended to be interested in something else. 'Fill you in later.'

Tonks's frown never left her face.

'Is he all right?' By the way they all looked at her, almost seemed like the guy had a disease and was about to die so, none of them wanted to talk about it. Charlie sighed, she was not going to drop it, he knew that. Tonks was always far too curious to let go of something like that.

'Yeah, well, sort of. Physically, yes,' he started as the other ones seemed to finally be going back to talking with each other and the room warmed up again. 'He just doesn't … believe Harry – He works at the Ministry and thinks that You-Know-Who isn't back and we have nothing to fight against.' Understanding filled her eyes when she looked at him. 'Couple of days ago, right after I arrived … _really_ big fight. Even Dad yelled at him. He never does that …' Charlie trailed of looking at the floor, somewhat embarrassed.

'It's all right, Char. We all have a dark side in our families.' She shrugged with a smile. 'Some are bigger than others.'

Winking at him, she bit her lip. She was not a hypocrite; with the amount of Death Eaters in her own family, she knew exactly what they were going through.

'Thanks, Dora.' She squeezed his hand and he grinned at her. Though she glared at the use of the unauthorised nickname, sometimes both of them needed some caring and these were their way of showing it.

A gentle squeeze between hands. Remus looked away. However, considering the proximity of their bodies, as he was sitting by the other side of her, it was not simple. There was probably nothing between them, no one made a single comment about how they should get back together nor how Charlie and Tonks had chemistry, but then again what did he really know? He was not close with the Weasleys to hear such things.

'So, how come you don't write to me anymore? Ages since I last heard from you.' She was not going to let them get all emotional, she wanted to catch up with him and that was precisely what she was going to do.

Remus smiled. He did not write to her … that was a good sign, right?

'Yeah, well, been busy. We received a bunch of new dragons these past months and we were having trouble to get them to … you know, make them get used to the new environment.'

'Charlie, it takes half an hour to write me a letter.' She glared at him. 'Tops.'

'I know, but –' He looked at her somewhat embarrassed again. 'Been a while since you last wrote me too!'

'Yeah, well, maybe because you never answered the last five!' she joked, laughing.

'Five?' He glared at her. 'Did you forget how to count?'

'OK, OK. Two, maybe three.' She sighed, rolling her eyes.

'Two.' He raised a couple of fingers and smiled. 'You sound like my mother.'

'Just wanna hear from you!'

Remus clenched her teeth. _She_ wanted to hear from him.

Charlie shook his head playfully.

'Fine, promise to write more.'

'That's better,' she said with a grin. 'How's Liv?'

Was she sorry to bring his ex girlfriend as a conversation topic? Not really, after all, she was her best friend. And as far as she knew, there was really nothing going on between them anymore, her friend would have told her, that she was sure of. And honestly, if there was, Charlie would have to get used to talk about her.

Remus looked down to the floor. _Friends in common, that … cannot be considered a bad thing. … Right? Are they like a gang or something?_

'She's fine,' appraised Charlie, nodding. 'Dare to say she's been enjoying the job as much as I am!'

Liv was friends with both of them, she had dated Charlie for a couple of years during their time at Hogwarts, but they ended up the relationship friendly. One would think with her and the Weasley going to work at the same place, they would probably get back together. She was indeed confused about how she still felt about him, one thing she was sure when she left England, though, she loved to work with animals and that was what she would do with her life. Besides, what better thing than work with what you love and the ones you love?

'Bet it's true,' agreed Tonks with a fond smile. 'At least she writes me!'

'Come on! Already promised to write more! What else do you want from me?'

'Nothing! Just teasing, really.' She laughed. 'So, is the Order the only thing that brings the dragon boy in town?' Tonks said, making a face at his nickname, causing both of them to laugh.

'How many correct answers are there?' His reply only led to more laughing. What could he say? If it was not for the Order he would not be in London, though it had been some time since he last visited his family and friends.

'How long will you be around?'

'A week, ten days.' He shrugged. 'Mum won't let me stay less than that.'

'Brilliant!' she said, excited. 'Wanna go to the Diagon Alley? Need to buy new boots and I could use an expertise.' She winked.

Remus firmly closed his eyes. Why did he not want her to go with him? It was clear they were great friends and he had absolutely no business with them. Evidently, he was still seeing in her the toddler he used to know, but was she that different? From what he got to see earlier, maybe she was not. Turning to Sirius, he tried anything to take his mind out of the pink-haired girl beside him.

'Have you seen Kreacher around lately?'

'I'll agree with that, if you let me pay for your boots.' Charlie crossed his arms over his chest.

Sirius frowned.

'Kreacher?' Why was Remus bringing Kreacher out of the blue?

'Only if you let me buy you new boots!' Tonks mimicked him and also crossed her arms over her chest.

'Kreacher. Your house-elf, remember?' He mentally punched himself. What a pathetic excuse for a joke.

'Hey, not fair! I offered to give you a present first!' Charlie's voice was a tone above normal.

'I know, yeah …' Sirius was still frowning. 'No, I haven't. Still need to find where he's been hiding.'

'And I offered … second.' Tonks chuckled. 'Birthday presents?' None of them had sent each other a birthday present so, suggesting them to exchange the boots as gifts was not a bad idea.

'Deal!' Charlie offered his hand to shake.

'I see …' Remus frowned as Tonks shook Charlie's hand. He did not know when her birthday was, in fact, he knew very little about her. Maybe if he was friends with her … Maybe then he would stop being so protective over her, maybe then he would really know what was there between the two of them, maybe then … Friends. Charlie was totally comfortable around her and he, on the other hand, always found himself uneasy around Tonks. It was not just Charlie, she really had an amazing bond with Sirius as well. Maybe there was something more to this girl than it met the eye. He could have something like this with her too, right? Was he allowed such thing? Someone to have fun with, someone to be completely comfortable with after so much time alone, he lacked that. A voice in the back of his mind said that with what he was, he probably would not have that not only with her, but with no one. That thought wandered in his mind through the meeting until the end of the night, but of one thing he was secure of, he was going to get to know that girl. It was only a matter of time.

Later on, having finally welcomed all the members into the new Headquarters, Dumbledore approached them, a fond smile on his lips when he stopped at the door.

'The young ones, if you please,' he spoke in a low tone, gesturing to the hall outside de kitchen. 'The young ones _from the Order_,' he added as Ginny and Ron stood up thinking he needed the kitchen for a meeting.

Tonks and Charlie jumped to their feet, being followed out of the room by Bill and some of the younger recruits.

There, on the corner, they spotted a tiny table with several candles on it, some lit, but quite a lot of them were out. Dumbledore neared Bill and handed him a candle from the inside of his robes.

'Carve your initials and light it,' he instructed. 'The fire will remain lit and the candle will not go out until you die.' He gestured to the candles that were out. Fallen members of the First Order of the Phoenix.

Bill wrote WAW on the candle with his wand and then murmured '_Incendio!_' He placed it beside his parents' candles and moved aside.

Dumbledore called them one by one, from the eldest to the youngest, which meant that Tonks was the last one to receive the candle. Of course she had to trip on her way and nearly overthrow the table with everyone else's candles. Nearly. She carved her initials as carefully as she could, but it wasn't enough to make the NVT beautiful like the RJL she saw. '_Incendio!_' she whispered despite being a bit uneasy. Tonks smiled proudly while squeezing her candle near Remus's and Sirius's, not caring much about the several ones around hers that were out. That place needed a bit of light and the Order seemed much stronger now with the addition of the new candles. The new recruits were needed; the old crew could not do it on their on this time and with their help, Remus decided while watching her, they had a better chance than twenty years before.


	6. 5 Animal Surprises

**A/N:** Wotcher! 10th of June aaaand Happy birthday my beloved Dora Tonks Lupin! We all love you and appreciate every little thing you have done and every little thing you've taught us! You will always be my favourite! Shhh, don't let Remus know. ;)

I'm so sorry it took me so long to update this, but I've been super busy and I'll be for a while, so don't expect any update at least for the next 3 weeks. Again, I'm really sorry. The good news is after that, with my University having a strike, I'll be free and able to update more. \o/ If the strike lasts that long, but it probably will. I had originally planned to have the 6th chapter today, but as I've been busier than I expected, I couldn't do that. :/ Though, I did got another fic done and it's pretty fluffy if you haven't read it yet, go check it out please. :)

Anyway, this chapter is waaaaay longer than I expected it to be, but that's a plus for your waiting! I guess … (It's the biggest so far, like three times the first one, but oh well, it contains everything it was supposed to.) It also contains some of my headcanons, I've spent countless hours thinking about all of these and you're welcome to say your opinions, either they're good or bad. Reviews are always appreciated! Thank you very much for all of your support so far!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 5: Animal Surprises<strong>

Remus looked around his bedroom, searching for anything he had forgotten, but seeing nothing important, he left the room. It did not seem really necessary to do this, for if he had indeed forgotten something, he could come and be back in a minute, maybe it was the closeness of the full moon, but he found himself returning.

'Locomotor trunk!' His luggage on the corridor started floating and he climbed down the stairs.

The idea of moving in with Sirius seemed better now than it did when Remus first voiced it. It simply seemed to have no purpose to continue to live in his house if he spent the whole day at the Grimmauld Place and just came back to sleep. Not to mention that he knew that Sirius would never admit, but he would enjoy any extra company he could get.

The majority of his things, he had taken earlier that morning, but he still needed to get the last few. He stepped outside and started to cast the protection spells. It did not take long for him to finish, no one ever visited that area nor had he many possessions that one might want to steal. That abandoned bungalow gave that idea right away. Having finished with the spells, he grabbed his bag and Disapparated to the Headquarters.

Reappearing on the last step to avoid being seen by any enemies, Remus realised something was not right. A shout of a familiar voice mixed with the sound of various different objects hitting the wooden floor and he dropped the luggage he was holding, letting the clothes in it too fall down the floor.

'Oh, thank Merlin! It's you,' She sighed in relief, a huge grin coming to her lips before she even realised that she was smiling as she recognised that Remus was the one beside her. Somewhat ashamed for pulling it out, she pocketed her wand.

'Oh, please, forgive me,' he apologised at the pink-haired girl. 'I didn't mean to scare you or anything. I was jus―'

'S'all right,' Tonks cut him off. 'Shouldn't have been standing here for so long, anyway. Must've known that someone would appear soon …' She smiled at him, glad that he was not able to read minds or he would find out that she had found herself wondering if he would be around when she finally decided to come in. 'This is the headquarters after all.'

'Were you, um, were you shopping?' He asked pointing to the various items on the floor.

'Yeah …' She pulled the paper bag and let a moan out when she noticed it was ripped apart. 'Mrs Weasley said that there was nothing to eat. I mean, there were a few things, obviously, but we must've eaten it all by now and as Charlie was headed with me and a few other friends to the Diagon Alley, she asked us to buy food,' she explained. 'Though, we are not the best people for the job so, we'll be eating junk food for a while.' The tone in her voice made Remus wonder if she was actually proud of it. She flicked her wand and one of the tins floated into her hands, a peanut butter with a colourful ad. 'Promises not to get fat. Not sure how it works, seems like a spell, or maybe a potion mixed in it … Yeah, dunno.' She shrugged with a smile. 'By the way,' she raised her right feet, 'check it out! Just got 'em!'

'Oh!' He glanced at her shinning new pair of boots. Were they different from the last ones? 'They seem very … resistant.'

'They are! Resist to ridiculous temperatures, high and low, also makes you lighter so you can run faster …' She seemed unable to stop grinning. 'Brilliant! Just brilliant! … What's with all the clothes?' She asked, pointing to his clothes on the floor with the tin in her hand.

'Ah, I'm moving in. Keep company to Sirius, you know, don't want to leave him alone, especially in this house.'

'Oh,' Feeling rather guilty for not thinking about doing the same, she just stared at him. Sirius was always the sort of guy that could not sit still for too long, being a lot like him, she wondered how he would be feeling, Tonks knew she would be freaking out by now. Though, Sirius was soon taken away from her mind …

A warm breeze went through her now shoulder-length hair as they gazed into each other's eyes, bringing a unique smell to him, one he was trying really hard to identify. None of them wishing to break the connection as their heartbeats increased. She noticed how penetrating that flecked with blue shade of amber in his eyes could be at the same moment he realised that those chocolate brown appeared to be piercing him. Leading them to think precisely the same thing.

_As if they could see my soul._

Remus looked down to the grocery whilst he knew he was still able to, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious of her eyes on him. Was that a blush on her cheeks?

'Here, let me help you. _Accio_!' The items slowly started to float around them. Soon their arms were full with grocery, he flicked his wand one last time and his clothes got in the floating bag beside him.

They entered the house, heading directly to the kitchen, Tonks managed to pass by the umbrella stand without tripping on it, but not by the kitchen's step, knocking the items in her arms on the table at once, startling Molly, who was by the cooker.

'Bollocks!' she cursed. 'Oh, sorry, Mrs Weasley. Didn't mean to scare you, this bloody step.' She looked back at it as Remus carefully put what he was carrying on the table.

'It's nothing, dear.'

'Good evening, Molly,' Remus greeted with a smile.

'Evening, Remus. How are you?'

'Fine. Yourself?'

'Good, good,' she answered. 'So, these are what you and Charlie bought?' Molly asked, slightly wary.

'Yeah! But, look!' Tonks grabbed the peanut butter she had shown Remus a few minutes ago. 'Is it considered junk food if you don't get fat with it?' A mischievous smile came to her lips as she handed the can to the elder woman.

'I don't know …' Molly answered lowly as she took a good look at it.

'If you excuse me, ladies, I have to unpack,' Remus nodded before leaving.

Tonks grinned hugely again.

'Bye!' Her voice was low, but with a clear layer of happiness underneath. Surprised for a moment, Remus turned back to face her smiling shyly.

'Bye … Ms Tonks,' He was not too fond of calling her by her surname, it seemed a bit too formal and that was not exactly what he wanted. He much rather call her by her first name; it was a beautiful one, wasn't it? That word floating in his mind as he climbed the stairs, 'Nymphadora' he murmured savouring the sound of it in his mouth when he reached his new room.

Remus opened his bag on the bed and began to separate his clothes. Most of what he had just brought were the ones that needed to be cleaned, his face became slightly red when he realised that it were the same on the floor a few minutes ago when he met the Auror at the entrance of the house. It did not take long for him to finish separating and when he was going to put the small pile of clean ones in the wardrobe, he realised that there was a rather big nest of Flobberworms in there.

He managed to put the worms in a recipient and grabbed his laundry; as much as he rather walk short distances, he decided to Apparate downstairs to prevent any accidents with the worms or worse, more falling clothes.

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><p>Staring at the floor, Tonks was biting her lip still smiling when she realised Molly glancing upon her. Raising her eyebrows as if she was asking what was wrong at the same time as stating that there was nothing going on.<p>

'By the way, Charlie met Devon and Turner there and they headed to have a few drinks, asked me to tell you that he'd be here later tonight. I asked about the meeting, but he said that Professor Dumbledore told him that it was a minor one with just some local stuff to organise and that he just needed to talk with him by the end of it.'

'And he left you to bring everything by yourself?' she asked with a slight frown. 'I really need to talk with him. That's not how you treat a girl.'

'Mrs Weasley, it's fine, really,' she argued, smiling fondly at Molly. 'Seven years at Hogwarts allowed me to know very well how Charlie is. Just warned him not to show up here drunk or he wouldn't remember his duties if he talked with Dumbledore sober. Of course he gave me a look, saying he wasn't that kind of guy. Also, I managed to arrive here with everything, didn't I? At least until I stopped at the doorway, thinking …' she slightly blushed for an instant, before covering it with her abilities, Molly giving her a confused look for a moment as she remembered exactly what was in her mind then, 'thinking about who would be here … you know …' She smiled and took one of the tins on the table, not really paying attention to whatever it was.

'Still going to talk with him,' she started to take the grocery and keep it. 'Or maybe I'll ask Arthur to do it, it'll probably be better. No wonder why he has no one back in Romania …'

'And then Remus Apparated behind me.' Tonks's mind was nowhere near what Molly was saying and continued as soon as it seemed that she had finished. 'I was … startled for a moment, pulled my wand out and so everything fell down.' Her heartbeat somewhat increased as she started to gesticulate. 'Of course it couldn't have been someone that wasn't from the Order, but I wasn't thinking straight and when I finally realised it was him, I was so relieved … Yeah …' She offered the tin to Mrs Weasley with a smile as she remembered how easily she grinned as soon as the realisation of Remus being the one standing at the doorway came to her.

'Oh, yes, thank you, dear,' Molly said carefully as she took the tin. 'Well, I'm practically done here. Why don't you go upstairs and see if Remus needs help to unpack?'

Tonks frowned turning herself to face her. _Not that going up to talk to him is a bad idea, but what was __**that **__supposed to mean?_

'Mrs Weasley …?'

However, Molly was unable to answer right away for in the moment she opened the cabinet and a couple of doxies flew away and she quickly closed it.

'Oh, good Merlin, more Biting Fairies! I've already found a few by the curtains, not to mention that there are quite strange creatures living under there. This place is a mess!' she added as she pointed to under a dressier before exhaling heavily and looking back at Tonks. 'I'm serious, dear. Go … make yourself useful, OK?' With a nod, she smiled at her, grabbing the rest of the grocery as she waved her fingers to the kitchen door, sending the Auror off. 'You've done enough around here.'

Still frowning and confused, the step Tonks took back knocked down a chair behind her; as she put it back up, she looked at Mrs Weasley one more time.

'You sure?'

'Of course, dear!'

'I'll be going then …' She pointed to the open cabinet. 'Will you be all right with the …?'

'Yes, I've taken care of a kitchen for many years now. I can get rid of a few Biting Fairies. Go, go. I'll finish it up here.'

Molly took a couple of minutes to get rid of the fairies with a spray and was throwing them away when she saw Remus Apparating not far from where she was standing.

'What are you doing here?' she asked frowning.

'I … bringing my laundry …?' The tone in her voice had left him slightly worried. Was something happening that he didn't know? 'And I located a nest of Flobberworms,' He raised the pot in his hand. 'Needed to get rid of them.'

'Give me those!' She grabbed it from his hand before he could say a single word. 'Me and Tonks just found a couple of Doxies here too. This house is one big nest of nasty creatures!' She smiled and then patted his arm. 'You must be tired, Remus. Why don't you go to your room, um?' The sudden change on Mrs Weasley's tone left him even more confused.

'Actually, I'm fine, Molly. I could help you here. Really.'

'I took care of our house for nearly thirty years now, I do think I can get rid of a few pests on my own,' Why didn't anyone think that she could handle them? Despite her anger, she smiled warmly at him and Remus had no choice, but to leave the room. He did not know her very well yet, but her behaviour did not seem exactly normal.

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><p>Tonks reached the stairs glad that no one was in her way as she started to climb them. Reaching the second floor, she walked into the corridor; she had no idea which one was Remus's new room. Most of the doors were open and she could see the mess inside of them, probably made by the Weasley kids.<p>

'Remus?' The silence was her only answer. If his room were really here, the best option would be to let him have the privacy he wanted, but maybe she should check a few more, just to make sure.

On the next landing, she let out a relieved sigh as she saw an open door and a wardrobe inside of it with its door also open, which was most likely Remus's room. Stopping at the doorstep, she looked inside, but seeing no one, she knocked.

'Remus?' she called in a low tone. 'Yeah, he's not here. I should just … go …' Turning around, she faced her feet as she walked away. 'Why would he want my help to unpack his clothes anyway …' She placed her hands on her trousers' pockets annoyed. 'Oh hey, where do you want me to put your underwear?' With a fake grin, she looked up and what she saw was definitely not what she was expecting: Remus standing by the stairs looking back at her somewhat confused.

'Ms Tonks?'

'… Remus?' she said before laughing nervously, not even remembering to cover the blush on her cheeks with her abilities nor to change the red in her hair.

'Whose underwear are you planning on keeping?' he asked unable to stop the Marauder in him as he started to walk to his room, coming closer to her.

'Gaaah … No one's,' she answered, her breath altered as she took a few steps back whilst he approached her. Well, it was the truth, she had not planned on keeping his underwear, she was simply making a joke on how uncomfortable it would be. Or maybe on how it was right now that he had caught her talking to herself about it.

'That's probably a good thing, right?' He passed by her smiling and entered the room.

Tonks stood there, looking at his bedroom's door, not really knowing what to do. Do something! _OK, yeah, this is beyond stupid, but it's all I've got._ Taking a deep breath, she walked and stood by the doorstep again.

'D'you want some help?'

'Ahn… ' Remus looked around the room as he pulled both of his sleeves up. His things were practically all where they were supposed to be. 'Not really, I'm almost done. Would have finished by now, but located a nest of Flobberworms so, I Apparated downstairs to warn Molly.'

'Oh …' She stared at her feet. _Of course he wouldn't want your help, of course it's stupid, should have just left when you were standing there by yourself._ Tonks sighed. _Yeah, maybe you should leave …_ She took a step back, pretending to look at one of the pictures on the wall and slowly started to walk away.

Wonderful! You say you want her to be your friend and then you send her away. _Brilliant! Well done. You're so clever, aren't you?_ He quickly reached the door and leaning over the wood, he said 'You are welcome to stay, though.' He held his breath for a moment as she turned to face him. 'That is, i-if you want to …'

She smiled, still not quite believing her ears. He was asking for her to stay with him.

'Sure,' she agreed with a small nod, trying hard not to sound too excited, walking back to the room.

He waited for her to pass him and left the door wide open, he was a gentleman after all and the last thing he wanted was to have rumours that she was in his bedroom with a closed door.

'Molly told me that she and you caught a glance of a couple of Doxies,' He walked to the wardrobe to put the robe he was holding.

'Oh, yeah, we did.' She sat on an armchair by the bed. 'She also said that there were lots of other … creatures there and all over the house.' Sparing a glance around his room, she added 'We'll have to clean this whole place. I don't even know what some of these things are … Not gonna be easy.'

Remus shrugged walking to back to the bed and getting the rest of his shirts, to put together in the wardrobe.

'At least, it'll keep Sirius busy.'

Tonks snorted at his comment.

'Sirius? Cleaning? I don't want to miss that one!'

Remus smiled.

'Well, he spent twelve years in Azkaban, a year hiding trying to find a way to get Pettigrew and another one hiding with nothing to do but to steal food I do believe he'll do anything to escape boredom,' he explained.

'Including … I don't know … reading?' Her eyebrows were raised almost as though it was impossible for someone to read because they wanted to.

'There's nothing wrong with reading.' His brows furrowed as he walked back to the bed to get a pair of trousers. 'And Sirius never hated it; disliked, probably. But he knew when it was important; at least, he used to when we were at Hogwarts.'

'I didn't mean as if there were something wrong with it,' she added quickly, looking at him as if she was apologising. 'It's just … I never pictured him doing it … as a hobby. S'all.' She looked down to her hands.

'Good,' he stated grabbing the empty bag and closing it before putting it under the bed. 'I bet he would do it, if he's forced to stay here long enough.'

'If you say so,' she shrugged smiling, finally looking back at him. 'You obviously know him better than I do so, yeah, I believe you.'

He smiled back at her.

'And I … believe I'm done,' he said wiping his hands still smiling.

'You're fast! Usually it takes me forever to unpack.'

'I brought most of my belongings this morning, I just went back to get a few other clothes.' She really did not need to know about those being the dirt ones. He sat on the bed looking at her, watching as she smiled back at him. She was definitely a beautiful witch. 'You keeping the red?'

Tonks looked at him confused.

'Whaaat?'

'The red.' He pointed to her head. 'Your hair.'

'Oh!' She grabbed a few hairs to realise that they were scarlet red. _You mentioned his underwear, what did you expect? _She smiled; it had been a while since she did not chose to wear her hair red. 'I guess I will.'

'It's nice,' he assured her. 'Very … Gryffindor.'

'Thanks,' she said blushing slightly. 'But I'm a badger, actually.' She looked at him, a strained expression on her face and she morphed her nose and mouth to look like the one of a badger.

Remus laughed slightly at her.

'You can say I'm a lion then,' he stated with a small nod, hoping that she would catch his cue.

And she did. With the same expression in her face, in a minute, she had a lion's snout, making a good contrast with her scarlet red hair. She let out a roar, louder than what she had expected it to be.

'Oops,' she said back in her usual form as Remus laughed like he hadn't in a good time. 'Guess I got a bit too excited …' She joined him in his laughter.

'Didn't know you could morph to this extension.'

'Yeah, we can.' She smiled, furrowing her brows a little. 'We can change everything. Though, animals aren't easy, it's almost like our body wanted to go back to the natural form.' She frowned. 'It's really weird. Imagine being able to do whatever you want to your body and then it has a will of its own, almost as if you're not on control anymore. Like, it'd rather go back to being a human.' She scrunched her nose. 'You haven't got a clue how strange it is, like you've been forced away from your own body. Not cool, mate.'

Remus suddenly looked really interested at her.

'I might have an idea. So … in theory, you could be any animal you wanted?'

'Yeah, I guess so.'

'Interesting …'

'We're not Animagi so, I believe that's why we can't be exactly comfortable in animal forms, but animal snouts, like the ones I did now, pretty easy, like changing into another human,' She stated as though anyone could change their entire body into a different one at any time they wanted. 'If we practise, we can … _learn_ how to control it, I guess. Just like being an Animagus,'she grinned.

'I don't see why not,' Remus said, calmly. 'Years of practise, of course, but I do think it'd be worth it. What's your Patronus? You would probably be able to run around the house with Sirius.' He got up and smiled, picturing the scene. Tonks looked at him with a confused expression in her face, but he continued, lost in his thoughts and not looking at her as he paced around the room, his voice assuming the teaching tone he had not used in over a year. 'Although, if you can change into anything, then your Patronus doesn't matter. However, I believe you'd have to practise with every animal, in that case your Patronus _would_ matter because it'd be the easiest one.'

'You lost me.' The confused expression still in her face as Remus smiled warmly at her.

'Which bit?' he questioned siting on the bed, placing his elbows on his knees and closely looking at her.

Tonks scanned him for half a minute and smiled, he was so _professorial_.

'Well, when you … when you mentioned Sirius and I running around the house so, I pictured me as a dog with him chasing me, but then I thought that it'd be a bit childish even for him.' She smiled. 'And then I heard your voice at the back of my mind, but I have no idea of what it was saying because …' She bit her lip and stared at him as he chuckled; she could not just say that she loved his voice and she had focused on its sound as she pictured the scene, especially this teaching tone he just assumed. 'Well, because my mind was still in the dog-me.' She was not exactly lying if she just did not say the whole truth, right?

'Well, you can be anything you want. Sirius has to be a dog, because he doesn't have a choice.'

Tonks frowned.

'What do you …' she could almost hear the click in her mind, 'mean?'

Remus's smile faded when he realised what he had just done.

'_**SIRIUS IS AN ANIMAGUS**__?_' But before he could say a word, she was out of the door.

Sirius, who had heard the roar she let out as a lion, had just finishing climbing the staircase when she ran to him, casting a weak stinging jinx right on his chest.

'**You **_**bastard**_**!**'

'Am I back at Hogwarts?' He massaged his chest as he searched for help in the eyes of his best friend, standing by the door of his own room. 'S'been a while since a girl hit me, accusing me of something I have no idea of what it is.'

'**You are an **_**Animagus**_**!**' she accused him, throwing her arms on the sides of her body.

'… Well. Yes. Yes, I am.' He looked from Lupin to her as a small feeling of guilty took him.

'**Why?**'

Sirius could not simply tell her why he and the other Marauders decided to learn Animagus, looking back at Remus, he read in his wide open eyes that he did not want him to tell her. As much as he did not think it was that big of a deal, it was not his secret to tell.

Remus could hear his increased heartbeat. If she knew about what he was, she would definitely look at him with different eyes and he could not bear that thought. He could not tell her, not like this. He started to remember all the people that freaked out when he told them his secret. She did not need to know, at least, not yet. Everything would be ruined.

'Don't you think it's fun to be a dog?' Sirius's question brought Remus back to the present.

'**No!** I mean, **yes**! But that's not what I meant! **Why didn't you tell me?**' Although she was angry, she could not help to think that her cousin was the kind of guy that would probably become and Animagus just because it was cool to walk around as a dog.

'All right, cuz. Chill out! You can stop shouting now. I never told you because I'm not a legal one and well, you know, questions and more questions. Next thing I know, the Ministry knows about me. Though, by now, I'm sure that rat told Voldemort already,' He clenched his teeth as she shivered with the use of the Dark Lord's name. '**So, my big disguise is gone!**' Sirius crossed his arms over his chest taking a deep breath.

With closed eyes, Remus leant his forehead against the door and exhaled heavily. For now, they had forgotten the matter. He knew he would have to tell her sooner or later. He had already been through this the last time, the Order needed to know. He needed to find the best way to do it, to let her know his true face. It could take a few months, she was an intelligent witch, she would realise that he would be reckling during the full moon's weeks, asleep the day after them and if he was lucky, she would figure out by herself; if not, well, he would find a way of slowly letting out some leads, until then, he had nothing to do, but to think about the best way to do it. He knew Dumbledore would let him tell the Order only when he was feeling comfortable in doing so, he would not pressure him.

The few minutes they spent together were so great that he was already afraid to lose her friendship. Could he call it friendship already? Yes, maybe he could. She had this way of making him feel young again, making him feel funny again, making him feel liked again, almost as if she could take away the burden on his shoulders by just talking to him. Remus could barely believe that he was unsure that she would accept his invitation to spend a few minutes with him. Maybe she would understand, maybe there was hope, maybe he could still stay positive in the end.

'Sirius?' Molly's voice from downstairs brought Remus back from his thoughts.

'Yeah?' It was clear in his voice that he was annoyed.

'Who are you talking there with?' she asked as Remus walked towards them as he put the sleeves of his shirt down, he did not want to take the risk of showing his scars off.

'Tonks,' he replied. 'and Remus. Why?' They all stopped to listen carefully.

'Dumbledore's here. Tell them to come down, the meeting is about to start.'

'All right.' Sirius turned to both of them. 'You heard her,' he grinned before starting to climb down the stairs.

'Sirius. Remus. Nymphadora!' Dumbledore greeted them in the kitchen. 'Good we're all here so, we can begin.'

They took their seats as Dumbledore started the meeting by asking for reports of both guard duties, on the prophecy and on Harry; he smiled when the few wizards announced that nothing new had happened and proceed to set up the schedule for the following week. As usual Tonks signed up to watch the prophecy, Dumbledore still preferred that only Ministry workers kept guard down the hall so, Remus did not. Although nothing had happened during any of her shifts, the Auror still found herself tired after patrolling the whole night, but the excitement of doing something to actually help the fight against Voldemort was enough for her to face the following day at the office.

'Now, I just need to let you all know,' the headmaster spoke. 'that during the next meeting, we will have a new schedule to include, I have recently received a few new leads from a … secret source, let's call it that way, and it's high likely that we will need volunteers to follow known Death Eaters.' The heads looked at Dumbledore as if they were going to die if they did not pay attention to what the headmaster had to say, a few nods, but it did not seem to have a single soul breathing in the kitchen. 'But as I said,' he re-started smiling. 'This is a topic for the next meeting.'

'The last thing for today's meeting is something rather complicated,' Dumbledore stopped and looked at the members carefully before he continued. 'Harry,' He stated and once again the wizards seemed to be anchored in his words. 'Probably will still take a while, about a month and a half, dare to say, but we will need to take him from his uncle's house and bring him here safe.'

'What about Side-Along-Apparition?' Sirius asked. 'Probably the safest option and it is fast. Will take what? A minute?'

'Agree with 'im,' Muttered Mundungus on the corner of the table. 'Woul' need only one o' us …'

Sirius glared at him as if he had said that he did not want to go rescue his godson.

'Yes, yes,' Dumbledore nodded. 'It would be perfect. However, the Ministry has been feeling really anti-Harry, as I'm sure you all know, and I prefer to not provide them a reason to say that the boy used any kind of magic that he isn't allowed to.'

'Which leaves us with … Floo powder and Broomsticks?' Emmeline looked at Dumbledore unsure of what she had just said.

'Muggle methods too, of course, but I don't think they are exactly an option, unless someone here knows enough about them to say that it is better for us to use them.'

With all the heads shaking, Dumbledore spoke again.

'No. We won't be using Muggle methods. We will need all the protection that magic can offer us. I have yet to analyse it, but I hardly believe Floo powder is a very safe method. There are lots of other places that he could end up in if he gets lost or doesn't say the name correctly.' From under his glasses, the headmaster looked at Mrs Weasley and the witch blushed recalling the incident in which Harry was with her and was supposed to go to the Diagon Alley, but ended up going to the Knockturn Alley instead. 'So, it is rather safe to say that we will use brooms to bring Harry here.'

Tonks needed to bite her lip to stop herself from exclaiming a loud 'Brilliant!' The headmaster finished and announced the end of the present meeting and the following one to the next Tuesday, followed by a not too excited Molly saying that dinner would not take long to be ready. It had been a while since Tonks had flown and she was starting to miss the sensation of the wind going through her hair.

'Tuesday?' she asked with a frown. 'What day is today?'

'Thursday, the sixth,' Remus answered right away as though he had the whole calendar memorised.

'Honestly, Tonks. How do you keep up with your shifts?' Sirius laughed. 'If you were more lost in time, you'd miss your own birthday!'

'So, Harry, huh?' she pretended she did not listen to him; she did not want to admit that that had actually happened once; she was really confused when her friends showed up at her flat and she wrongly tried to correct them by arguing that it was on the following day. 'How's he?' It was a strange feeling to think that she was going to finally meet the boy who defeated the Dark Lord.

'He's just like James,' Sirius grinned as he looked down to the glass on the table.

'But he has Lily's eyes.' Remus smiled warmly at her. 'It's really impressive, actually, how they are alike.'

'I barely remember them.' Tonks straightened her eyes as she looked to the table, she had very few memories of the Marauders. 'Though,' she let out a small laugh, looking at Sirius, 'I remember getting a hold of your wand and turning her hair pink to match mine.' She frowned a bit. 'She wasn't very happy … but somehow, she blamed you.'

'She always blamed me!' Sirius tried to defend himself causing them all to laugh. 'Even things that weren't my fault!' he said as if it was something horrible to be blamed by the things he actually did. 'Got rid of James complaining that he didn't have Lily with him, but got her blaming me on everything instead.'

'I had forgotten about that day …' Remus smiled, it was not every day that he found himself floating with memories from the Marauders.

'D'you wanna see a picture?' Sirius asked excited. 'But you'll have to come with me, it's in my room.'

'Sure!' she answered already getting up.

'Are you going somewhere?' Mrs Weasley said as the other two got up. 'I said dinner will be ready soon.'

'We'll be back in a few, Molly,' Remus assured her. 'Don't worry, we wouldn't miss your food.' He caused them all to smile.

'All right, then. Go on!' she sent them off.

As they passed through the corridor, Tonks was able to see the headmaster talking with Charlie and by the look in their faces, it seemed to be something serious so, she decided not to interrupt, she had already spent the afternoon with him anyway. And she noticed that he really did not seem drunk, which was a good thing, she had wondered if he would really be able to do it. Sirius's room was on the last floor and Remus was taken aback when they entered it.

'You haven't cleaned a thing!' He glared at his best friend, the room was exactly the same way it was in the day they first entered the Grimmauld, if not worse. 'You stay here _all day_! What do you _even_ do?'

'I was looking for old stuff …' Sirius noticed the Remus's glare upon him and quickly added. 'I'll get to it, I promise, OK!'

'No wonder why your mum disowned you,' Tonks scoffed looking around the posters of Muggle girls in bikinis.

'I know,' Sirius sounded rather proud as he headed to the wall where he had glued a picture of them during their Hogwarts years. 'Here we are!' he announced hitting the smallest of the boys right on the head.

'Aww, look at you! All … handsome,' she stated raising her eyebrows.

'One thing I can't complaint about this family,' Sirius smirked. 'Our amazing good looks,' He winked at her.

'You too …' She turned to face him, biting her bottom lip.

Remus's cheeks flushed. When had been the last time he received a compliment from a girl?

'Thank you, Ms Ton―'

'Ugh! Would you do me a favour?' She clenched her teeth, it seemed that every single time he had said that, something more important was happening and she could not correct him. Well, now she simply did not care that she had just made her first compliment to him, it was getting on her nerves.

'I … Yeah, well, of course,' Remus and Sirius exchanged a look as she ran her fingers on her forehead, none of them had the slightest idea of what had made her mood change so fast.

'Could you forget about the miss?' She looked back to his eyes. 'Just … don't! Drop it,' There was something about it that was pissing her, maybe it sounded too formal and that was far from what she expected. At least, from him, anyway. 'Tonks is fine, really. Just Tonks.'

'As you wish.' He offered her a slight bow if his head.

Sirius chuckled.

'Your name really is a pet hate for you, isn't it?'

'Shut up.' She did not even look at him. 'So, this is James?'

'Yes, well. You jus― Do you have one with Lily, Sirius?' Remus turned to him, it would be far better for her to imagine if they had a picture of the red headed.

'I do!' he replied turning on his heels and looking around. 'Somewhere …' Sirius could almost feel the 'I told you so' glare from Remus on his back. 'Oh, yeah … If I'm not mistaken …' He went to a drawer and opened it. 'Aha! There you go!' He handed him a picture of Lily laughing as James's legs chased a baby Harry on a broom.

'Here she is …' Remus smiled looking at the picture. 'Sweet Lily.' He handed it to Tonks who picked it up almost afraid to break it, she could feel in the air how much Sirius and Remus missed those two. 'That's Harry, but he was only one … Anyway, can you see the green in her eyes?'

She nodded looking at the picture and focusing on the girl's eyes.

'Now, look at him,' Remus pointed at James in the picture on the wall, 'and picture him with her eyes and you'll have Harry. We were about the same age he is now so, you can't get the wrong picture.'

'Yeah, I can see him … I guess …'

They looked at Sirius who had just lay down on his messy bed and was now staring at the ceiling with his arms under his head. It seemed that the fact that the Order was back and they were fighting once more had opened all the scars from the past. None of them could help but to remember how similar things were now, they often found themselves wondering who would survive this time and who would leave them forever, if there would be a third time and who would still be fighting. She placed the photograph on the drawer and smiled at Remus who offered her a warm smile back, he felt almost as if he was interfering in Sirius's privacy by staying there so, he decided to leave. Anyone could see that Sirius was not exactly in the present and he much rather left him with his thoughts. He tilted her head to the door and Tonks caught her cue, her cousin barely noticing their absence.

'Who is he more like?' she enquired sitting on the last step of the staircase. 'Personality-wise, I mean, 'cause he's obviously got James's looks.'

'Oh, Lily. Definitely, Lily,' he answered, sitting beside her. 'James ran after trouble, but trouble ran after Lily, usually it had James's shape, though,' he explained, causing them both to laugh. 'But yeah, things happen to Harry, but he is usually not after it, they just do. James liked to be the centre of attention and Harry doesn't. He's got a bit of him too, of course. Wonderful Quidditch player from what I got to see last year and Lily could barely sit on a broom.'

They chuckled.

'Same as Mad-Eye, right? Defence Against the Dark Arts?' She smiled as he nodded, gazing into his eyes. 'I remember he left retirement because …'

Remus held his breath scared as she furrowed her brows trying to remember why Dumbledore took her mentor from his retirement. He knew that she was about to connect the dots, but, luckily for him, she could not remember.

'Nah, I don't,' she chuckled and he smiled, waiting until she re-started talking to release his breath. 'My favourite, though. Me, stating the obvious. Anyone could tell, given the fact that I became an Auror.'

'I don't mind you saying what you like the most.' They exchanged another smile, Remus had spoken the truth, but his intention was to take their conversation to another topic, though he did not know that deep down he was glad that they had something in common for anyone could look at them and say that they were complete opposites. 'So was mine. I believe it's one of those things that everybody likes.'

'Yeah, you're probably right …'

As silence fell upon those two, she looked at him and it was like she could see the pain in his eyes. Just like when she complimented him, Tonks was not thinking whilst acting and she leant her head on his shoulder. It took her a few seconds to realise what had happened. She was glad she had done it, it was clear that he needed some caring and she was feeling responsible for the way he was feeling, if she had not brought up Harry, Remus and Sirius most likely would not be feeling like this.

Remus did not have a tough day like this one since about a year ago when he, along with Sirius, had to explain to Harry everything that happened and the next day, not only he had to resign and deal with the fact that probably the whole Wizarding world knew he was a werewolf, he had a great amount of memories from his Hogwarts' years with him. His gaze was lost as he thought on how things were not going to be easy and before he knew it, her head was upon his shoulder. Would it be too cold of him if he pretended she was not there and acted as if she was still away from him? The bloody voice in the back of his head answered the question, he knew very well what he was supposed to do in the situation so, he leant his own head on hers. Was it wrong of him that he was probably enjoying how close they were way more than he should? Was it that wrong if he just accepted the comfort she offered in such a difficult time? No, maybe he was allowed to take solace for a moment. After all, he just wanted to be friends with her … right?

That sweet aroma invaded his lungs once again and now he was finally able to identify it, vanilla, cherries … and cream. Sometimes it was an advantage to have the moon so close for some of his senses became sharpened and he could perceive this delicate scent coming from her beautiful hair, her perfect skin, coming … from her. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by her slightly sad voice.

'Was it tough?' she asked. 'To be with Harry, I mean. You know, teach him when you know James wasn't able to see him grow.'

'It was.' His voice was more hoarse than the usual. 'Especially because I gave him a few extra classes and I could see how much not being with them inferred in his life.'

'What extra classes?' she questioned curiously.

'Patronus,' he answered. 'Do you remember how Dementors were surrounding the school last year? Looking for Sirius?'

'Wait, but isn't he fourteen or something?' She lifted her head from his shoulder to his nuisance.

'Yes, he'll be fifteen by the end of the month.'

'And he can produce a Patronus?' She looked at him with wide open eyes.

'A full bodied one.' He smiled, proud to be the one who taught Harry how to cast one at such young age.

'Wow …' Tonks was impressed, she had only learnt how to cast a Patronus during her first year of Auror training.

'It wasn't easy,' he explained. 'He even fainted when he first met one.' Tonks raised her eyebrows and Remus continued. 'You see, I was sleeping in one of the compartments of the train and when I woke up, I saw the boy going down to the floor, his eyes were so lost and such vivid shade of green, one that I hadn't seen in over eleven years and I knew it was him. His friends were beside him, without a clue of what to do so, I sent the Dementor away.'

'And was he OK?'

'Harry? Oh, yes …' He shrugged. 'As OK as you can be after hearing your mother being killed. I gave him and the others chocolate. You know how there's nothing better to get your energies back after something like that.'

Tonks nodded energetically.

'Yeah, 'course. We even got a permanent stock by the office. You never know when a mission can be too overwhelming.' She shrugged with a smile. 'Actually, Mad-Eye's idea, years ago. Started talking all about the hormones and how it worked, but I cut him off, told him that all I needed to know is, if I had a tough mission and then had some chocolate, I'd feel better. The end.'

'Practical way to see it,' Remus stated with a smile.

'Wow! That's a nasty one!' Having noticed a rather big scar, she pulled his arm close to have a better look. 'How did you get it?'

'Aaah, hm, I …' He had no idea what to say. _Oh, shite! Bloody hell!_ He looked from the scar on his arm to her and back to his arm. 'Animal attack,' he decided at last before the silence pause became far too long. He wasn't exactly lying if he didn't tell her the whole truth, right? 'You know … Marauders, Forbidden Forest, long story.'

'Not cool.'

'It wasn't.' Remus simply hated this new topic of conversation.

'I have a few too, from missions, you know,' She shrugged still looking at the scar. 'But I hide them.' Her thumb started to carefully run on it and Remus closed his eyes. Her touch was so overwhelming that it was almost as if she could heal it. 'I just keep the best ones,' he opened his eyes to see her smile, 'one on my back, a small one on my hip, another on my left thigh.'

Remus was taken by a strange sensation and he wanted to see all of them, wanted to know how they got there, what she was doing, if it were her fault, and if it were someone else's, he wanted to literally take their head off with his bare teeth! He closed his eyes fiercely. It was the moon, it had to be the moon. It was getting close and whatever was happening to him in that moment was its fault. He needed to leave before something happened. He got up at once, pulling his arm from her hands.

'I should go to sleep. I need to get up early tomorrow.'

'Ah …' The clear sadness in her voice pained him. Who was she to question what he had to do, right? He was far more important to the Order than she would probably ever be. She was probably just Sirius's little cousin to him. 'OK then.'

'Good night,' he said already climbing down the stairs.

'Wait! What about dinner?' she asked to the air, but as she received no answer, she added 'Good night. See you next week.' Her tone was something between sadness and annoyance for being left alone all of a sudden.

She looked back to Sirius's room, she could not go back there, Charlie was most likely already back at the Diagon Alley by now and suddenly she had no desire to dinner, maybe she should go back to her flat. She exhaled heavily and started to go downstairs. She heard a few hushed voices, but did not meet a single person on her way out. Lonely and confused, she Disapparated to her flat and threw herself on her couch, turning on the music with a flick of her wand to fill the silence.

However, not even the loud sound of The Weird Sisters' guitars was able to keep Tonks's mind from floating straight to him. One minute he was the sweetest guy and the next he ran away from her, maybe she should not have said anything about that scar. It was clearly what made him feel uncomfortable. More memories from the Marauders that she had brought back by mentioning it. One more time she had said more than what she should, how many times would she make this mistake? She needed to learn to keep her mouth shut. She knew she needed to apologise. The next time she would … would there even be a next time? By the way he left her standing on the stairs as if she had killed someone, she could not be sure. No, she could not think that way, she had to stay positive. There would be a next time, it had to. If it did not it would be her fault. It just had to.

Remus knew he needed to tell her, but he needed to postpone it at least a while longer, because he knew, he knew that when she learnt what he was, she would barely be able to look at him, like so many people before her. That was the truth. There was no purpose in holding himself onto the fact that maybe she was like the Marauders, maybe she would become even a better friend for him because of it. There was no purpose in being positive about it, he just knew. When she learnt what he was, there would be no next time.


	7. 6 Full Moon Party

**A/N:** Hi, everyone! So, a promise is a promise and you gotta keep it! Three weeks later and here it is, the sixth chapter. :)

God, I just_ loved_ writing this one, you guys have no idea! I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did! I know June 30th is usually Dumbledore's death, but for me is mainly the day Remus accepted that he belong with Tonks, so it's pure love. ^_^

Reviews are always appreciated! XD

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 6: Full Moon Party<span>**

Despair started to sink in both of their minds. What was about to happen was not something that either of them could control. They could only deal with the consequences and neither Lupin nor Tonks were able to predict the slight direction in which things would go. The night before seemed like a dream to them, a smooth meeting and a happy dinner were images from a previous life that somehow managed to be imprinted in their retina. How dare they believe that life could be so easy? How could they think that things could actually be all right in the future?

_Twenty-four hours __earlier__._

Tonks arrived a while before the beginning of the meeting for she had left the Auror Headquarters earlier than she had expected to. Luckily, her pile of paperwork turned out to be smaller than she thought and the Metamorphmagus rang the bell at the Grimmauld Place when only a few of the members were already at the headquarters.

A noise was clearly heard inside of the house; a voice of a woman, shouting.

'Hello, Tonks. Come on in,' said Mr Weasley, frowning as he stepped back to let her in.

'Thanks,' She looked past him to the hall, searching for the source of the shouting. 'Was it –'

'Tonks, dear,' Mrs Weasley seemed breathless. 'We're asking everyone to _not_ rang the bell, please. If you could just knock on the door or ...' She looked up but someone had silenced the portrait.

'Yeah, sure!' She smiled as Arthur shut the door closed behind her. 'No problem.'

Mr and Mrs Weasley headed to the kitchen and Tonks was following them when she spotted a girl with bushy hair having some trouble to go upstairs with a huge trunk.

'Need a hand?' she asked with a wink.

'Oh. Thank you!' said the young witch standing and smiling shyly at the Auror.

'I'm Tonks, by the way,' she offered her hand to shake.

'Hermione,' she replied, shaking her hand and sparing a glance at the bright blue of Tonks's hair.

'_Locomotor trunk!_' Tonks looked back at Hermione. 'OK, _Hermione_, where are you staying?'

'Ginny's,' she answered looking away from her hair at once and focusing on her feet somewhat uncomfortable. 'Ginny's room.'

'Oh, OK,' she was not entirely sure about her name, but the only one that Ginny could be, was Charlie's little sister; an incredibly ginger cat passed running under Tonks's legs, making her miss a step and nearly toppling her. Tonks smirked to herself as she morphed the blue in her hair to a dark green.

As they finished climbing the stairs, Hermione stopped staring at the corridor, in an attempt to guess which one was the room she was supposed to go to.

'That second one, on the left,' Tonks remembered the day she went through the whole corridor searching for Remus's room; she tried her best to keep herself from grinning when she saw the look in Hermione's face when she noticed the change of colours.

'Your hair!' With wide eyes, Hermione was almost screaming in despair. 'It just –'

'Changed colours?' Tonks finished calmly. 'I know, I did it,' She winked at her.

A slight frown appeared in Hermione's brows as if she was trying her best to remember something.

'Metam― Metamorphmagus, isn't it?' She spoke the word carefully still frowning. 'I remember coming across the term in a book –' But she stopped herself for the book she had seen the word in was one during her second year when together with Harry and Ron, she was trying to find a way for them to be Slytherin students.

Tonks tilted her head to the side, raising her eyebrows.

'Wow. I'm impressed! Most of people haven't got a clue about it.'

Hermione blushed slightly and Tonks opened the door to Ginny's room. A strained expression in her face as she turned her hair back to blue.

'Nice colour!' said the redheaded that came to greet her friend. ''Mione! Hey, how're you?'

'Thanks!' Tonks landed the trunk upon the empty bed as the two Gryffindors hugged. 'Hey, what are those?' She asked frowning as she pointed to a few strings that seemed to be connected with ...

'Extendable Ears,' Ginny grabbed them and offered one for Tonks to see. 'Fred and George came up with them. Just put the string in your ear ... Yeah, like that. Then put it wherever you want and you can hear whatever it's happening in the room,' Ginny explained and turning to Hermione, she said 'Big one tonight and the twins will sure let you have one. We've been using them to the Order meetings,' She smiled for a second before realising what she had just said, but Tonks merely looked at her grinning.

'I didn't hear you say that,' and threw the ear back to the Weasley.

'I don't even know what you're talking about!' Ginny responded with a fake innocent look in her eyes causing the three of them to laugh.

'Ginny ... right?' Tonks asked straightening her eyes a bit.

'Right!' She answered enthusiastically. 'Dunno why mum insists on saying my whole name, it's not all the time, but ... I don't know, I guess I just don't like it.'

'My mum says mine all the time!' She began to walk around the room, checking the things as Hermione started to unpack. 'She knows I don't like it, but for some reason, she won't stop calling me by it.'

'I won't tell you mine if you don't tell me yours,' Ginny had a half-smile on her face when Tonks looked behind herself to see the younger girl offering her hand to shake.

'Deal!' She shook her hand grinning.

Tonks was not sure why, but she had a strange feeling that she would become very good friends with that Weasley girl.

* * *

><p>The meeting in that night went smoothly if it were not for Sirius and Snape, glaring at each other as if they were able to kill with their eyes to which Dumbledore seemed to ignore. A meeting of the Second Order of the Phoenix never had this many members present before, the headmaster had managed to talk to different members separately until now. However, this one needed to bring up a few important topics; for one, they needed to recruit more people to their side. It was extremely important for the Order to have as much strength as they could get. So, they would need to contact anyone that had the smallest chance of joining the fight, friends, colleagues, people they did not talk for years, but they knew would want to do the right thing. They knew from a font, who Dumbledore refused to reveal the identity, that the Dark Lord was recruiting more followers. Voldemort was getting stronger.<p>

Second, they needed to know more about what You-Know-Who had been planning and for that they would follow known Death Eaters, a task that if not made with utmost care, could lead not only to the member's death, but reveal secrets about the Order and decrease any advantage that they had. So, naturally, Alastor Moody was the first to volunteer to the position. Tonks knew that this was a task far more directed to the more experienced members so, why the hell did her heart sank when she heard Remus Lupin volunteer himself? Mad-Eye was one thing, she had been on the field with him loads of times, she knew what he was capable of, but Remus? Not that she doubted his abilities as a duellist, but having him fight on the front line like this ... Definitely not something she was expecting, but then again, he was far more important for the Order than she would probably ever be, who was she to feel like this? She was just a new recruit, a clumsy young girl; an Auror, true, but still nothing more than that. She had to accept that he was capable of that task. Hestia Jones, Sturgis Podmore, Emmeline Vance, Dedalus Diggle, they all had volunteered and she felt indifferent towards them, but him? Among the Order members, he was the only one she had slightly befriended with by now, except perhaps Molly and Arthur, but definitely not like him and well, Sirius wouldn't count, he would always be her big cousin.

She sighed and her eyes met Remus's for a moment, offering him what she expected to be a brave smile to encourage him, though it did not come out as she expected, more like her lips curved somewhere between timidity and fear, the kind of smile that had never crossed her lips before.

Remus looked away from her and back to his hands, to his intertwined fingers. The gaze he had just seen simply would not match her face, as if it would not belong her features. That was no ordinary girl. That was easy for one to perceive, not in her colourful hair; no, this was for ordinary people. He could see past the bright frame of her face and into her eyes, her smile. And what he had seen an instant ago was not right, it simply was not right. He realised that he would do anything to take away that pain from her eyes, take away the fear from her soul.

His eyes were now locked on the kitchen's wall's worn wood. They were friends. That is why he would do anything to take away any pain from her. Wasn't it like this when he used to see the green in Lily's eyes filled with worry? Of course his heart used to beat faster for that redheaded ... Remus shook his head and looked back to Dumbledore, the Order was the priority now, his thoughts were clearly leading him somewhere completely insane.

'... and now back to the matter we all started during the course of the last meeting: rescuing Harry,' the headmaster's voice was strong yet calm. 'I've decided that floo powder really isn't a method safe enough for us to use in such an important task as transferring Harry. Therefore, we will be using broomsticks,' He smiled warmly at them before continuing. 'So, are there any volunteers?'

The instant Dumbledore finished, almost all the hands went up in the air.

'As delighted as I am to see so many of you interested in the mission, I don't believe all of you would be necessary. Seven is a good number, I would say,' He cleared his throat before continuing. 'Remus, I do think it would be of great importance for Harry to have a familiar face ... No, I'm terribly sorry, Sirius, you must understand why you can't go rescue the boy.'

Sirius rolled his eyes when the headmaster looked away as a slight sound of contempt came from Snape's lips and the pair restarted to glare at each other. Neither would dare to do more than that as long as Dumbledore was in the room.

'Alastor, my friend; Eliphias; Emmeline; Kingsley, naturally; Dedalus and the young Nymphadora. Yes, I believe you all are ... The Advance Guard,' A smile and a twinkle in his eye as Professor Dumbledore ended his say.

Tonks found herself worried as the professor kept saying names, but not hers, though she smiled when he finally said it and it became wider when he announced the Advance Guard. It may be an old fashion thing of her, but she had always loved this kind of names. Usually in the Auror Headquarters they too had them and she loved, it gave the spirit of a real mission and if there was something she loved about her job, it was this atmosphere of doing something important, having a real purpose.

After that last announcement, Dumbledore ended the meeting by saying that the Advance Guard's services would not be needed until somewhere between the second and the third week of August, which let Tonks a bit disappointed, but still excited to the idea of flying on a mission to rescue the boy who lived. Some of the members began to leave, the headmaster included, though he still had some business to take care of before he left.

'Remus, may I have a word, please?' He stepped away from the kitchen as the Marauder nodded.

Lupin followed Dumbledore through the hall and into an empty room.

'Remus,' he began with a low voice. 'I reckon you have realised by now that Hagrid hasn't been in our meetings, and not only him, but a few others too, that is because of me. I sent them in special missions to try to get more allies to our side.' He paused for a moment, studying Remus's expression. 'And I'm afraid I must ask you one thing that is crucial to us. I will understand, however, if you do not feel comfortable in doing it, though, you must see how important it would be for the Order if you accepted it.'

Remus nodded, indicating that he had understood that whatever Albus needed to ask him to do would be dangerous yet extremely important.

'I'm sure you remember the last war when Voldemort had an immense number of followers and how the majority of the werewolves stood by him. Now, understand how substantial it would be if we could manage to have them see what our side has to offer, how their life could be once Voldemort is defeated and they are allowed to live normal lives such as yourself.'

Lupin straightened his eyes a bit as Dumbledore's words started to make sense in his mind. No doubt that if they managed to somehow take the werewolves from the other side that they would gain so much in strength and tactics. Though, it could not be anyone, it had to be someone that knew how life for a lycanthrope could be if they did not chose to live the way they were living, someone that even though did not live like them, understood what they needed to go through every month, someone that had felt the pain of the effects of the full moon in the infected, someone from the inside. A werewolf.

'You want me to go to them and ... convince them ... to join us?' His voice sounding somewhat braver than how he truly felt towards this.

'Only if you are comfortable in doing so.'

To try to locate the pack would mean that he would need to face Greyback one more time. That monster that had turned him into the beast he was. The harm he could cause standing by Voldemort's side would be incredibly vast. How many lives would be torn apart by him? How many families would be devastated because of him? How many more deaths would he cause? How many toddlers such as Remus himself would have their lives twisted in an irretrievable way? He closed his eyes and released a deep breath as he ran his hand through his face. _What matters if I'm not comfortable with? What kind of person would I be if I let them suffer the same fate I did? I need to at least try to stop it._

'You have no obligation of giving me an answer tonight, Remus. You cou―'

'I'll do it.' He put his hand in his trousers' pockets. 'I'll try to locate the pack and ... see how many of them I can convince to join the Order ... or at least not to join ... him.'

'Very well,' Dumbledore seemed happy, though he did not really smile. 'Please, let me know when you begin your search and any improvement you make, any kind of activity that might lean to anything important. You really don't need to start right away; the full moon is tomorrow night if I'm not mistaken.'

Remus nodded, by now he was almost feeling the effects of the round globe on him. He was tired. Physically and mentally tired.

'Please, wait until you are in your best shape once again to start. Thank you, Remus. I appreciate your effort.'

He walked back to the kitchen trying to send all the negativity in his mind away. He would do this in benefit of the Order, he would do this to prevent families from being destroyed, he would do this so little kids would not have their wonderful lives taken away from them, just like he had.

The air in the kitchen was the complete opposite from his feelings that he almost felt like an intruder there, but he convinced himself that it was the moon affecting him in a way that was making him feel like he did not belong, so he tried, not entirely successfully, to let the warmth atmosphere created by the happy talk of the kids and the smell of Molly's food fill him.

In this cheerful environment, dinner went smoothly. As they all ate Molly's chicken and ham pie, Fred and George seemed to be enjoying a bit more than they should a chat with Mundungus on the corner of the table; Kingsley, Bill, Charlie and Arthur discussed about how the foreign wizards should be compelled to join the fight and separated from Remus by Sirius, Tonks entertained the kids by morphing her face just like she had done a few days ago in his room, a pig, a bear, a dog. He could not help and chuckled, she seemed to be the one enjoying it the most. It did not take long for them to empty their plates and slowly the chairs, too, began to empty. One of the first ones to leave was Charlie.

'So, folks, long trip back home, gotta go. I guess I'll see y'all when I'm back here. Hopefully won't be any time soon,' He grinned and waved to them as he left the get his luggage in his room, receiving several farewell murmurs and goodbye smiles.

Tonks ran, but had to stop for a moment to get the glass she had knocked down and catch up with him in his room.

'Leaving without saying a proper goodbye?' She asked folding her arms on her chest and leaning against the doorway.

''Course not!' He chuckled. 'D'you honestly think mum would let me leave like that?' He raised his eyebrows with a slight tilt of his head. 'She'll still bear hug me like five times,' He grabbed the trunk and walked towards her. 'It was nice seeing you again,' He took her off her feet when he hugged her.

'I'm gonna miss you,' She let out a sad sigh and handed him a piece of parchment addressed for her best friend. 'Give it to her for me, please?'

'What about Penates?'

'Well, you'll probably arrive faster than he would.'

'I don't know ... An owl that received training from the Auror Headquarters would be quite competitive.'

'Ah, don't bother, Charlie!' She hit him on the shoulder. 'And I'll probably need him around here.'

'All right, all right!' He raised his hands. 'Don't need to hurt me!' He laughed before placing a small peak on her cheek. 'See ya!'

'Don't forget you promised to write me!' She shouted as he began to climb down the stairs.

'I won't!' Charlie shouted back.

Tonks bit her lip and sighed. She would really miss that bloke. That redheaded was one of her best friends and still was, just like it had happened, they could see each other after years and still act like it had been a week since they last chatted. She leant against the wall for a moment and her gaze fell upon her new pair of boots. A smile appeared on her lips, he would not leave her life as long as she did not allow it to happen, he would be in the little things of her day, those boots were a reminder of him and she was feeling quite happy when she went back to the kitchen.

Remus and Sirius were the only ones in the room by now, for all the Weasleys had left to say their goodbyes to Charlie and the other members had already left. Sirius grabbed a bottle of firewhisky and a couple of glasses.

'So, full moon party tomorrow night?' He asked with a smirk as he served the glasses.

'It's har―'

'You guys planning a party without me?' Tonks entered the room and threw herself on the chair beside Remus's.

Sirius looked at him, he had no idea his cousin would choose that damn moment to enter the kitchen and above that he had not a clue of what to say to her, not even the lamest of excuses came to his mind now and the silence between them was starting to become far too long. Tonks raised her eyebrows as she put her feet on the table.

'It was really a party?' she asked, incredulously. 'I was only joking. But hey, you two can have a guy party or whatever you feel like –'

'It's _not_ a party,' Remus cut her off, what was the purpose in letting her believe that everything was fine? What was the purpose in believing that things could work out when he knew they would not? This was it.

She rolled her eyes at him.

'You don't need to lie to me, you know,' She let out a breath annoyed. 'I'm not a kid anymore,' She was not going to let things be like that. She was an Auror after all; hell, she was twenty-two years old! She may be far less experienced than them, but she was not a little girl, she had seen things most wizards would never see in their whole life. If they didn't want to say whatever they were planning, they didn't have to; but lying was a whole new level and she was not going to take it.

Remus got up of a sudden and nearly knocked his chair, calling her attention back to him as he looked directly to her eyes. So, that was what she thought it was all about? That they thought she did not have enough nerve to take it? Maybe it was not all about her. Despite how he was feeling, he managed to control himself, his voice was calm and careful when he spoke.

'It's not a party because I'm a werewolf.'

All of a sudden she was looking at him yet not seeing him. Everything started to sink in, to take place, to make sense. Her mind seemed to be going a thousand miles per second, voices echoing from everywhere as memories floated her. James's voice in her house when she was a toddler 'Hey, Moony! Quit reading and come have some actual fun!' _The moon ..._ Sirius before the first Order meeting 'Moony here was able to calm you down when nobody else could.' _The full moon ..._ Leon, her Auror partner 'Hey, you'll never gonna believe this! Mad-Eye's leaving retirement! He'll teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, turns out the last one was a werewolf! Can you believe it? Some bloke named Lupin.' And her own voice followed ... by _his_. 'You haven't got _a clue_ how strange it is, like you've been forced away from your own body. Not cool, mate.' 'I might have an idea.'

To see her eyes completely lost like that ... That was the only proof he needed to convince himself that she would never accept him for what he was. He was not good enough for her, that was a fact, she was just too much for him. This was it. The end of something that never even started. He was not going to stay in the Grimmauld, he had absolutely no desire of walking into the hall and face the Weasleys happily saying their goodbyes, he was going to leave through the back door. He did not even spare a look at Sirius when he left. He apparated back to his own house as soon as he was out of the reach of the protection spells.

A glass making contact with her hand brought her back. She stared at the firewhisky and slowly her mind comprehend that it was her cousin who made it slide until her.

'I ...' She started to say but she had no idea of what she wanted to say in the first place. It was not often that she found herself speechless like that, in fact she did not even remember the last time that had happened; she was always the talkative one. How could life even be for a lycan? She had heard a few horrifying stories about them, though, she seemed completely unable to link any of them to the kind man ... _Where is he?_ She looked around almost in despair, but could not find him, the kitchen door was still slightly open, he was gone. She finally met Sirius eyes and there was nothing she was able to say. Tonks saw him raise his glass to her and drink a sip. She took her glass in her hand and stared at it for a long moment before taking a large sip and feeling the liquid burn her throat. 'I didn't have a clue ... about it.'

'Nobody ever does,' Sirius took another sip of the firewhiskey. 'He's not the type. In fact, he's completely the opposite. No one ever imagine a bloke like him being a werewolf.'

She held her glass with both hands and would not stop staring at the liquid. Werewolf. Was it her or that word seemed to carry a strong prejudice? Lycanthrope. Much more like a technical term, yes, this one would be the one she was going to use from now on. She started to recall everything she had ever learned about them. An extremely painful transformation, one of the angriest creatures, completely loss of consciousness unless ... _Wolfsbane Potion!_ Not everything was lost, he probably had a stock of it by now, but if needed be, she would learn how to boil it. No matter how complicated it might be, nor how clumsy she was. She managed to pass her Potions' N.E.W.T.s with an E, didn't she? Of course she realised that if Snape wasn't staring at her almost in hope for her to knock over one of the ingredients, she could be a very good potion maker.

'And the Wolfsbane Potion?' She asked finally looking at Sirius.

'Dumbledore said that Snivellus will prepare it,' He rolled his eyes, as if trusting him was the most dangerous thing one could do. 'Though he wouldn't do it for tomorrow 'cause there was no time. It's awfully complicated, needs all the other moon phases and add ingredients at the right time of the moon cycle ... You know all that potion crap.'

'Um ...' She looked back at the Firewhisky recalling how the wizarding society treated the lycanthropes, as if they were not people, as if they did not have rights, as if it were their fault. That was not right, that was not the way things should be. One thing she was sure about it. 'He doesn't deserve it.'

'Definitely not,' Sirius shook his head, agreeing with her. 'Moony is the most gentle and respectful guy I know. He would never do something to gain benefit over another person or disrespect a woman, not that he goes out that much,' He chuckled and drank another sip. 'He puts everyone before himself. Always did. You should have seen his face when we told him that we had decided to become Animagi to help him.'

Tonks frowned and looked at him with wide eyes.

'Yeah, he's the reason I'm an Animagus. Me, James and ... _Peter_,' He pronounced his name nearly spitting. 'Decided to do it so the full moon nights were not so bad for him and I gotta tell ya, they were the best nights we had back in Hogwarts.'

The Auror smiled, at least something good came out from this tragedy. Sirius began to tell her what she could only imagine. How it was to watch him turn, how they could see the pain in his eyes and there was absolutely nothing they could do but wait it to go away and when it did it was because he was no longer their friend, he was a huge wolf that could kill any of them. But, what mattered is that _they_ were his friends too and that was why they would not let him go out and kill someone. Of course Remus was supposed to stay in the Shrieking Shack, but that was before he had two huge Animagi with him so, naturally, they would go out to the Forbidden Forest, maybe they could find the other werewolves they heard about, but they never did.

How this affected his life in a way that he had no control of and no one could ever do something to make it better. How he would become pessimist and tired the week before, how completely exhausted he would be after it. Though he had tried countless times, he could never keep a job with this kind of mood swings. No one wanted to hire a werewolf, no one wanted an employee that needed four days out every single month, no one wanted a bloke that would think that everything would go completely wrong every month. It was a horrible situation, his life, but he was managing so much better than she thought it was possible to. He had never killed nor infected someone, he was living a completely normal life, if not for just one single night of the moon cycle in which he would lock himself and become a giant wolf, but well, that was a minor thing, wasn't it? That was the best beginning she could ever think of.

After a few hours of her cousin telling her about how Remus led his life, she finally left the headquarters to her flat. Despite how the world was treating him back, he was living a normal life, he was showing every single one of them that he was not a monster, that taking care of some things, he could live a perfectly normal life. He was proving all those sceptical people wrong. And with those thoughts and a smile on her face, Tonks fell asleep.

* * *

><p>The following day was not easy for either of them. The only period that was worse than the day before the full moon was the actual full moon night. Remus spent the whole day dwelling on the same thoughts that he had felt asleep to, not only the previous night, but also a few other nights from the week before. How she would never understand, never accept him. Recalling how many times he suffered prejudice and how there was no hope to think that she would ever fully accept him for what he was, a monster with no control of its actions, a monster that could kill her in a minute if she was far too close. He was not good enough for her, she was this incredible girl that could live this fairytale and he was just the monster in it. He sighed. What was this all about after all? He never wanted to have anything more with her, she was a friend, absolutely nothing more than that. Funny thing what the moon was able to put in his mind, wasn't it?<p>

The sunset found Remus preparing the chains in the basement of the Lupin Bungalow, he needed to make sure that he would not leave and kill someone. He had to lock the beast the best he could. He had already casted the protection spells upon the house and began to take off his clothes. He locked the metal grid with his wand before putting on the chains and hiding the wand in a special spot on the wall, where he knew the wolf would not be able to get it and destroy it. He sat on the cold floor, naked and completely vulnerable to what was coming. Waiting to face what he would never be used to.

* * *

><p>Tonks left the Headquarters tired from the small amount of hours she had slept, but with no desire of going home to rest. How would he be right now? Despite the fun Sirius had told her about the previous night, the full moon nights were not good for him; even if he had the Wolfsbane Potion, he would still need to change and suffer the pain of the transformation. She apparated before the door of the Three Broomsticks and stepped in. The bar was even calmer than the expected from a Wednesday night and she ordered a butterbeer after sitting.<p>

Despair started to sink in both of their minds. What was about to happen was not something that either of them could control. They could only deal with the consequences and neither Lupin nor Tonks were able to predict the slight direction in which things would go. The night before seemed like a dream to them, a smooth meeting and a happy dinner were images from a previous life that somehow managed to be imprinted in their retina. How dare they believe that life could be so easy? How could they think that things could actually be all right in the future?

The moon rose and Remus started to feel the consequences in his body. He curled into a ball as his consciousness started to be taken away, no matter how hard he tried to keep it. Was there something worse than this? No, how could there be? He could feel every bone breaking and assuming a new shape, every muscle morphing to adjust. All the times he had been through this, he thought it was going to be better, but it never did, the pain was excruciating as always. The desire to kill, the need to rip some flesh. Vanilla ... cherry ... and cream. Wait, what? Why were those scents invading his mind? Why was he recalling them now? And where the hell did he remember them from?

As if it had a life of its own, his arm used all the strength in his body to pull the chain and try to take it out. No luck, he was trapped. He needed to bite someone. Vanilla, cherry and cream. No, he was not going to. He looked down to his own torso and craved his fingernails down his own flesh. The pain. As if having all the bones from your body broken was not enough and now he was bleeding from his own doing, this was not right, he was not going to sit and hurt himself, he needed to rip someone else apart. The smell, no, he was going to stay here, he was not going to take away someone's chance to live a normal life. He had no idea where that smell came from, all he knew was that it was helping him keeping his mind.

For how long did Tonks sit by the bar and drank, she did not know, all she knew was that she should be looking like hell, for after a while Madam Rosmerta came to talk to her.

'Bloke, family or work?'

'... Sorry?'

'Whenever I see a girl like you sitting here until this late night hour, looking miserable and alone it's always one of those three. So, bloke, family or work?' she asked with a smile.

'Oh! Hmm, bloke. No! Family, I guess ...' Tonks looked back to the bottle in her hands. 'He's a family friend. Though it's _nothing_ like that, he's just a friend,' She explained before exhaling heavily, hoping with everything she got that she had successed in explaining it to her. 'And it's not his fault ... It's a ... ah ... health ... issue. I'm just worried about him.'

'Oh!' Rosmerta looked sadly at her. 'But is he going to be fine?'

'I ... I don't know,' Tonks started to run her fingers on the wood, chewing her bottom lip. 'It's like ... it's something for the rest of his life, he's managing it though, but it doesn't mean he isn't suffering ... you know ...' She exhaled heavily and held strongly the glass in her hands. 'And there's nothing we can do ...'

Madam Rosmerta looked at the apathetic girl trying not to show the pity in her eyes, anyone could tell that she was suffering because of this bloke, whoever he was. She took in a deep breath, maybe there was something she could do after all.

'There's only one thing that can help in cases like this,' She grinned at the confused look that the Auror offered her. 'I never do this, but I can see you could use it. Hot cocoa,' She headed to the kitchen to prepare the beverage.

Tonks smiled and her gaze fell upon her feet, this was not the first time someone would tell her that chocolate was good, in fact ...

'Would you make it two?' She raised two fingers with a half-smile. 'And I'll take 'em home, please,' She jumped off her seat feeling a lot better than she was not a minute ago. Rosmerta grinned at her as she opened the door. The effect of the chocolate could be way faster than she thought.

Tonks leant her back against the bar behind her and ran her fingers in her hair, messing up with it. Yes, Remus was having an awful night and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, what she could do was to make the following day somewhat better and she would. She grabbed the coins in her coat's pocket and placed them on the bench, leaving a large tip for the woman, it was not everyday that someone had a wonderful chocolate idea.

She took the warm cups in her hands and tilted her head towards the money.

'Keep the change,' She said with a wink and thanked her before leaving.

Stepping outside the Three Broomsticks, she realised that she could not just show up at the Grimmauld Place at nearly two in the morning, she would have to go home, so she vanished into thin air. She left the hot chocolates on her kitchen and went to her room. Wouldn't hurt to try to sleep a bit, right? She changed before lying on her bed. Her mind seemed to be running a thousand miles per second.

She wished she could see him now, just to have the slightest idea of how he was. Just to know that Remus by now was struggling through the transformation, that he was still fighting the loss of consciousness with that unknown smell, that he chose to harm himself uncountable times just to escape the chance of hurting an innocent life, his arms, his chest, his torso, his tights, his neck; all bleeding. The smell of his own blood was driving him insanely close to the edge of wanting to kill, to bite whatever it was, but somehow he managed to fight it by focusing on that scent.

Tonks's mind was far too agitated to sleep and she gave up after a couple of hours. So, she got up, put the clothes she had just taken off, on again and grabbed the hot cocoas before disapparating. With no desire to disturb anyone's rest, she sat beside the door to wait, leaning her back on the wall and casting a disillusionment charm on herself.

* * *

><p>Remus could feel when the sun finally beginning to rise, his body painfully going back to its original form. When the transformation finally ended; he laid there, tired and chained, on the floor for a while, retrieving his breath as blood dripped down his new wounds. He placed his hand on the right spot to get his wand back and release himself from the chains. He put on the dirty clothes ready to leave, there was no purpose in getting clean ones if blood was going to cover them all in a matter of minutes.<p>

Lupin materialised himself in front of the door and knocked.

'You know, most people aren't up by the sunrise.' Perhaps the only familiar voice he did not want to hear in that moment spoke with a serious tone completely unmatchable with it.

He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth as she appeared beside him.

'Most people don't have a werewolf for a friend and promise him that you would sleep on the hall just to open the door for him in the morning,' he answered refusing to match the gaze he could feel almost burning the skin of his neck.

Tonks could see the red stains on his shirt becoming bigger and bigger, which made her heart ache in a way that was not only worse than the cold tone of his voice.

'You look like hell,' she stated trying to match up the coldness.

Who was she to show up and tell him that he looked like hell after a full moon night? Of course he would look like hell! He had just harmed himself to prevent any accident from happening, he chose to look like hell so other people could live their lives without any interference from the beast he was. He turned on his heels to tell her that she had never experienced a full moon night as a werewolf to have an idea of what he had just been through, but he saw the bags under her eyes, the mess that was her bright hair and her crumpled clothes. She had surely had an awful night herself. And suddenly he was able to identify where he smelled that scent that was with him all night long, the one keeping him sane. It was much stronger now. It was ... hers. _She_ had kept him sane.

'So do you.' The coldness was gone, but his voice held a calm and serious yet slightly warm tone.

She faced her feet and shook her head with a sceptical smile. He still believed that she wanted nothing to do with him, he still thought that she would despise him because of his condition, that their friendship was jeopardised by the simple fact that he was not himself for a few hours during the month.

'What am I going to do to you?' she asked smiling and facing him again.

'You have nothing to do to me.' He stared at the door and knocked again, cursing Dumbledore for not connecting the house to the Floo Network yet otherwise he would already be in bed. Where was Sirius? The berk had guaranteed him that he would sleep on the couch to open the door to him. Remus heard Tonks snort and looked back at her. That full of life girl had nothing to do with an old werewolf like him, the best she could do was to step away from him right now.

'_Accio_!' She waved her wand and the cups flew to her hand. 'Someone once told me that there was something excellent to retrieve your energies when you had an exhausting day ... or night.' She touched each of the cups once with her wand to warm them up. 'Hot chocolate?' she offered with a small smile.

He closed his eyes and could not help but to smile. This was nowhere near what he had expected things to be. He took one of the cups and murmured a thank you without meeting her gaze, still surprised by what had just happened. She grabbed the other floating cup and drank a sip, letting the beverage warm her before speaking.

'You're my friend,' Tonks stated looking straight into his eyes. 'And I don't care you're a lycanthrope. If you consider me a friend too, if you want this silly and clumsy girl as your friend, you'll let me help you. You're managing this, Remus, you are saving so many lives in your own way and _that's_ what I care about.' She took in a deep breath, she was never good with wording, but this was a simple thing to say. Though, with him being the one to listen to those words, made things a little more complicated. 'It's not _what _you are, it's _who_ you are. That's what I care about.'

Not even in the best of his dreams, this would have happened. She was just like Sirius in this matter after all; he glanced at her for a long moment and simply seemed unable to stop. What she did next surprised him almost as much. Tonks slammed the door twice and yelled the name of her cousin at the top of her lungs. The following second they heard Mrs Black's portrait and Sirius swearing. In a minute he had already silenced his mother and opened the lot of lockers on the door.

'What the hell, Tonks!'

'I wouldn't have to if you kept the promises you make.' She raised her eyebrows and drank another sip of her hot beverage.

'I kept my promise!' He frowned and stepped back so they could see a pillow and a blanket on the couch.

'Maybe if you were sober ...' She tilted her head toward the empty bottle.

'Ah, come on! Spent the day cleaning this place and everyone was so tired that they went to bed early so I had like absolutely nothing to do and –'

Remus had to refrain himself from offering her a "I told you so" look.

'Yeah, yeah. Got it!' She rolled her eyes at him. 'Just don't next time. Especially if you had promised _me_ something. Anyway, gotta head to the Office.' She looked at Remus and bit her lip for a moment. 'Don't forget what I said, OK?' It was almost as if her feet were standing to her tip toes so she could kiss his cheek, but she stopped herself, there was a lot going on already. She spun on her heels and walked away.

Remus watched as she went down the road. It was a gift for him to see her hair match her feelings, specially after such an awful moon he could be able to see that girl drinking hot chocolate, morph it to her favourite bubble-gum pink.


	8. 7 A Violent Shade of Violet

**A/N1:** Wotcher, guys! I'm so sorry for making you wait this long, but it's finally here! \o/  
>Anyway, I've added a Prologue, not much, just the basics about their story before the beginning of the Fanfic, what isn't there is because I plan on writing it here so, don't worry, but please, <em>please<em> let me know if you got lost at something. :)  
>This chapter was supposed to be together with the next one, but I realised that it would be far too big if I left it the way I had planned so, I divided it. The next one will be bigger, but I have some of it done so, give me a week and I'll get it finished.<p>

Yeah, well, that's it. Read, enjoy and let me know what you guys liked and what you didn't! Oh, yeah, Happy Birthday, Harry! ;)

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 7: A Violent Shade Of Violet<span>**

Summer at Grimmauld Place was going on as pleasant as possible; Mrs Weasley had taken as her life mission to get the headquarters completely clean, much to Sirius dismay, even though having something to do such as cleaning the house was better than spending the whole day bored and locked in his room.

Following Dumbledore's orders, Remus had been searching for the werewolf pack. He would leave the headquarters around eight or nine and spend the morning searching in places the werewolves were known to take place and hide themselves. Lunchtime he would be back at the Grimmauld Place would take an hour or two, if that much, before he could retake his search. At night, around seven or eight, he would come back to relax, have some dinner and catch up to what had happened in the hours he had been away. In that particularly evening, he had been reading in the drawing-room with Sirius as the later wrote a birthday note to his godson when he saw a girl whose hair was a violent shade of violet entering the room.

Recalling their last encounter, both Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin's cheeks became somewhat redder. She had been thinking about that day for weeks now, perhaps she had been a bit too harsh on him, she did not know how it was to have to turn yourself into a monster every full moon, for sure it was not easy to be in his shoes so, who was she to get into his private business anyway? Despite being busy searching for the werewolves, he remembered that moment a few times during the last weeks too and he always felt rather embarrassed when it came to his mind. After the Marauders, he should know better than to think that no one would want to be friends with him, but was it that bad of him? He had been through so much after the end of the First Wizarding War, so many wizards and witches he met that when they acknowledged his condition, would not even be able to look him in the eyes. No, perhaps he could be forgiven for his disbelief and behaviour the night before said encounter, in which he had nearly shouted at her due his anger, not totally justified.

She stared at him for a moment, hating the feeling that they seemed to be almost strangers. She had not seen him for weeks and did not exactly like the way they had left things the last time.

'Hey,' she said as she close the door behind herself.

'Hey,' Sirius answered with even less enthusiasm than she had greeted.

As she walked her way to an empty chair, both of them got to the same conclusion: the best to be done about it, at least for now, was to let go. They were fine with it, weren't they? So, why bother being nervous about it? What needed to be said, was said, she knew about him and she was OK with it, end of story. He offered her a warm smile as she sat and grinned at him, lips parted; both hearts feeling incredibly lighter with that simple gesture.

'Evening, Tonks,' Remus said with a short nod and still smiling.

'What are you doing?' she asked, looking at her cousin.

'Oh, hm, writing a card to Harry,' Sirius told her. 'His birthday tomorrow, you see. Hermione, Ron and I will send him a couple of chocolate boxes from Honeydukes,' he smiled.

'Oh, cool,' she said finding somewhat unnatural for Sirius to join Ron and Hermione for a birthday present considering the amount of money her cousin had, but now that she thought about it, it was not unnatural at all. Being forced to live in a house that was protected by the Fidelius Charm and that he could not put a foot out the door would obligate him to take different actions from the ones he normally would. And that was the reason she had decided to stop by, he needed company, someone to talk to, someone to keep him busy. She had thought that Remus would do this, but it did not turn out as expected.

'And you?' Tonks asked looking at Lupin. 'Why have you been a stranger?'

It took him a minute to realise that she had actually spoken to him.

'I'm sorry,' he said looking up from his book. 'What?'

'I haven't seen you around these days,' she shrugged. 'Was wondering what you've been doing.'

'Oh, yes,' Remus carefully put a bookmark on the page and put the book on the coffee table. 'Dumbledore asked me to …' he paused for a moment thinking about the best way to put what he had in mind into words, 'go on a special mission,' he finished with a smile.

'Oooh,' Sirius laughed. 'Special mission!' he added chuckling.

'And may I know what it is?' she asked eager to know what kind of missions Dumbledore had been giving that would require the member to spend the whole day out, but at the same time, she was not sure if he was allowed to talk about it and did not want to make it sound as though she was demanding to know.

'Yes,' he said with a smile. 'Yes, you may,' Dumbledore never mentioned anything about the mission being secret, though as any other activity from the Order, they had the obligation to stick said activity to its members and not a soul from the outside was allowed to be aware of their actions. However, of course the Weasley kids had found a way to cheat. 'I've been trying to loc―'

'Dinner's ready!' Mrs Weasley announced as she entered the room.

'Just a second, Mrs Weasley,' Tonks said as Sirius got up at once and followed Molly to the kitchen, obviously too hungry to wait for his best friend to explain something he already knew. She smiled at Remus, encouraging him and he cleared his throat before continuing.

'I have been trying to locate the werewolf pack.'

'Oh,' she said staring at her feet, thinking she should have known it had something to do with it.

'Until now, I have only searched in forests,' He added being careful to keep any essential information out, but still letting her know what he had been doing. 'No luck, though. Of course I didn't really expect to find them in the first couple of weeks, I mean, I've been living away from them my whole life. Sure I know where it is most likely that I would find them, but I believe it will take a couple of months, at least,' he got up and smiling, he offered his hand to help her stand up. 'Shall we?'

Tonks felt her heart skip a beat as she stared at his hand for an instant. When was the last time someone had done something like this for her? _Yeah, well, Dad doesn't count._ And even though, it had been years since her father did something similar. She smiled shyly at him before taking his hand and trying to sound as casual as possible.

'Sure.'

In the kitchen, Tonks took a seat next to Ginny, who was petting Hermione's orange cat, Crookshanks, on her lap and Remus sat between her and Sirius.

'I've been trying to talk with the goblins,' said Bill, 'Ragnok is one my … _friends_, dare to say. You see, it is rather complicated to establish an actual friendship with them. Goblins have a very different view of the wizarding world from ours. For example, they believe –' But he was cut off by his sister.

'Sirius, Sirius, Sirius!' Ginny called. 'Ahn, sorry, Bill, but you _gotta _see this one, Sirius!' she said almost laughing. 'Do the one you showed me and Hermione that day, Tonks! The one with the …' She put her hand on her nose, fingers down and Tonks could not help and let out a giggle in anticipation. A stained expression on her face as she morphed her nose to look like a hook, very similar to the one of a certain Potions' Master getting laughters from everyone around her.

When Sirius was finally able to stop howling from laughter, he put his hand on Lupin's shoulder and said 'Someone's gotta keep the abnormally large nose out of people's business, huh, Moony?' But the rest of his laughter was cut off by the butterbeer that Fred and George spit on them.

'Just _what_ did you call him?' the twins asked at the same time with wide eyes.

They all frowned and looked back at them.

'… Moony?'

The twins exchanged a look for a second.

'Do you think it is?' George asked.

'It's the only explanation!' Fred said as a smile started to spread across their faces.

'Professor Lupin?'

'That'd be brilliant!'

'We had classes with one of them?'

They turned their heads to face Remus and Sirius again.

'So, are you or are you not?'

'What exactly are we, boys?' Remus asked confused.

'The Marauders, of course!'

'Moony,'

'Wormtail,'

'Padfoot'

'And Prongs'

'Are proud to present'

'The Marauder's Map,' they grinned widely.

'You are, aren't you?'

'Oh, um, yes, we are.' Remus smiled fondly at them.

'So, you two had our map?' Sirius asked.

'Yeah, we had.'

'Hand it over to Harry about a year and a half ago.'

'We owe you so much,' their eyes held so much admiration that Remus was starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable.

'But wait, if Lupin is Moony then you are …'

'Padfoot!' George answered connecting the dots in the blink of an eye, they all had seen his Animagus form by now.

'And who are Wormtail and Prongs?'

'You guys were brilliant either way.'

'We never thought we would actually …'

'Meet them – I mean, you.'

'Of course there were only another mischievous group of Gryffindors that managed to beat you guys,' Fred said as a sudden wave of confidence crossed him.

Sirius crossed his arms over his chest with a grin almost as if he was saying he had accepted the challenge.

'And who those Gryffindors might be?'

'Us, of course,' Fred answered simply with a shrug.

'But, boys, if you owe us because of the map … How come you get to beat us?' Remus's tone was calm almost as if he was explaining it to a couple of toddlers. He was far from being the most mischievous of them, but there was obviously something wrong there and he felt the need to defend the Marauder's name.

'Point is … professor,' George added the last word quickly to make his point, but still show some respect to the men he admire so much.

'We had the map's information all along,' he explained.

'We didn't need to spend our time creating it,' he did not want to take the risk of sounding arrogant by saying "waste" instead of "spend".

'Therefore, we could use our time to cause mischief,' Fred concluded trying to show that it did not matter whoever invented the map.

'But you two said you'd be nothing without us!' Sirius replied. The creators of the map needed to get credit for what they did, it was only fair.

'We never said we'd be _nothing_ –' George started, but his mother ended the discussion.

'MUNDUNGUS!' Molly reprimanded, getting up and walking towards him. 'No smoking in the kitchen! For Merlin's sake! We eat here!' She had already been somewhat mad at him for she thought he was a bad influence for her boys and now he wanted to fill the kitchen with that awful smell?

'Aye, Molly,' he took the piper from his mouth and with a tip of his wand he put out the fire. 'Sorry,' Putting it in one of his pockets, Dung got up. 'Must get going anyway. Got a shift tomorrow, another one on Wednesday, too bad a had a great deal –' clearing her throat, Molly stopped him from saying anything else. 'Right, yeah, 'm going.'

Murmuring complaints about him, Mrs Weasley started to float the empty plates to the sink and Tonks got up to help her, floating the ones on her end of the table. Fred and George got the cue to leave for they had been chatting and laughing with Mundungus a while before and had no desire to listen to their mother scolding with them; the twins were closely followed by Ginny, Ron and Hermione, leaving only the members of the Order in the room. Tonks chuckled at the sight of all the kids leaving because of how mad Molly was, of course she could not blame them, Mrs Weasley could be pretty scary when she was angry.

As it always happened when she let her mind float when she was doing some task that had a great probability of something breaking, the whole room was startled by the sound of objects ... well, breaking. Tonks had landed one of the plates on a not very stable pile and another three went down together with the first one.

'_Tonks_!' cried Mrs Weasley.

And that was enough to wake Walburga's portrait, making it nearly impossible for anyone to hear Tonks desperately apologising.

'BLOOD TRAITORS! FILTHY CHILDREN BRINGING DISHONOUR TO MY HOUSE!'

Sirius left to shut his mother's portrait as Remus kneeled to help her fix the broken plates doing his best not to smile. That girl had a good heart; she just wanted to help, but so clumsy that she could not do it without breaking something or tripping over her own feet. And yet, it was all sort of … _adorable_.

'There, all fixed,' he smiled fondly at her, floating the plates back onto the sink.

'Thanks,' she smiled at him before turning to Molly. 'I'm sorry, Mrs Weasley,' She said with a small nod before leaving the kitchen.

Passing by the drawing-room, she saw the Weasleys, Hermione and Sirius with two boxes of chocolate.

''Be careful and don't do anything harsh.' Done. There you go,' he said and handed the piece of parchment to Hermione. A moment later, her cousin was grinning evilly at her.

'Hey, lemme help you!' Sirius started to shake his hands. 'Sorry, I broke everything!' he laughed.

'Shove off, you bloody berk!' she rolled her eyes. ''M going home,' she announced walking away. 'Good night,' she stated not in the most amicable way.

Sirius stood up from the floor and ran to the doorway.

'Tonks! Tonks! Don't be mad at me, Tonks!' he yelled at her.

'Am not!' she shouted back. Truth to be told, she was used to hearing jokes about her clumsiness every now and then. Turning around, she looked at Remus, barely remembering why she had shouted at Sirius, she walked a couple of steps backwards and said, 'Night!' in a much happier tone and with a wink.

'Good night, Tonks,' Remus nodded smiling.

* * *

><p>Three days later, Tonks had joined them for what she thought it would be a lovely afternoon, but it turned out to be one toilsome task, getting rid of flobberworms. Molly had been reading Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests, but the author's tips did not turn out to be exactly helpful, so they were basically on their own. Grabbing a couple of dead worms, Tonks's face twisted in disgust.<p>

'Leave it there, Kreacher!' she heard her cousin yell as he came back from feeding Buckbeak. Searching for him, she saw Hermione biting her lip, clearly uneasy about the way Sirius was treating the house-elf.

'Kreacher was just trying to save his old master's belongings, sir,' said the elf.

Sirius grabbed the trousers and threw them back on the pile of trash they had been putting together all along.

'My father's. Ugh!' Sirius faked a shiver and re-joined them at the same moment Tonks had an idea that although seemed pretty obvious, would probably save them all from this arduous job.

'Have you tried telling _him_ to clean the house?'

'Kreacher?' asked Sirius, incredulously. 'Nah, of course he has to if I give him an order, but he's just far too nuts to clean anything these days,' he frowned for a moment, looking from her and back to the elf. 'You're welcome to try, though.'

'Me?' she had never given an order to a house-elf, they did not have one at their house and the ones at Hogwarts were always so friendly with her when she went to the kitchens that she could not imagine someone being mean to any of them. Of course none of the ones she ever encountered were near Kreacher's state of mind. 'B-but why would he – Oh,' she stuttered as her mind perceived what her cousin had figured out. 'Hm, yeah, OK,' everyone had stopped and was now watching her attempt to give the house-elf an order. She cleared her throat and stood up. 'Kreacher,' she began with a firm tone, 'clean those nests of flobberworms.'

The elf looked up to her with straightened eyes.

'Kreacher lives to serve the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. What would his mistress think if she saw Kreacher receiving orders from a blood traitor? Kreacher doesn't have to obey this blood traitor. Kreacher doesn't know why, but Kreacher won't obey this blood traitor.'

'**Kreacher!**' Sirius shouted at the elf. '**This is not how you treat my family, did ya hear me?**'

'Sirius,' Hermione's calm voice called him, but if he heard it, he chose to ignore her.

'**Out of here!**'

'Sirius.' It was now Tonks's turn to call for him, but with a firmer tone. 'Let it go.'

'**I. Said. Out. Of. Here!**'

'Let it go!' She needed to push his arm in order to get his attention. 'Let it go,' she repeated calmly when his eyes met hers.

'_He called you a blood traitor!_'

'_That's what I am!_'

'But you didn't do anything!'

'No. That's thanks to Mum,' she said, chuckling, but not even the joke was able to get her cousin to relax. 'Seriously, though, don't argue with an old, crazy elf, will drive _you_ nuts,' she smiled, more concerned about Sirius's state of mind than Kreacher's.

'It shouldn't have to be like this,' clenching his teeth, Sirius looked back to the door where the elf left a moment ago.

'Yeah, well, to change that we need to defeat You-Know-Who. So, forget about him and focus on helping the Order. Now –'

Sirius scoffed and started to walk away.

'Oh, I'll help. I'll help the Order. _By cleaning some flobberworm's nests_!'

Tonks closed her eyes and exhaled heavily. This was not how it was supposed to be. She was here to help him cope with the fact that he could not do anything to help, but she had only made everything worse. _Well done, Tonks. Well done._ She started to go after him, she had to try to fix it, she had to at least try. However, despair never had a chance to leave her mind for in that second, one big silver phoenix entered and spoke with Dumbledore's voice.

'I am convoking an emergency meeting now. Harry has just been attacked by two Dementors. Alert as many members as you can.'

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><p><strong>AN2:** Sort of cliffhanger in the end 'cause everyone knows what happens next, but well, won't take long anyway. Don't forget to review! ^_^


	9. 8 The Advance Guard

**A/N: **Hi, guys! A week later and here it is, the 8th chapter! \o/ Yay!

I've written book scenes before, but nothing this big and I gotta tell ya, I loved it! It's so wonderful to write what's underneath what the amazing J.K. Rowling gave to us, definitely my favourite. So, I tried to leave basically her description, but I added a few minor actions that she didn't say that happened, but I think it did. Also it's the biggest chapter so far, I'm glad I decided to split it in two … So, yeah, enjoy and please review! ^_^

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 8: The Advance Guard<span>**

In that very instant, Tonks's Auror instincts came out. Her mind was racing a billion times per second. _Alert other members … __**Remus!**_ Immediately, she thought of Mad-Eye hanging the Auror badge on her robes, the day she graduated her training, the memory she used when she needed to cast a Patronus and a second later her Siberian Husky ran out the window.

'**Don't **send a Patronus to Arthur!' she warned Mrs Weasley that seemed ready to do exactly that. 'Dumbledore must've alerted him and Kingsley by now,' Besides, being at the Ministry, the last thing he needed was to receive a message asking him to come to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix for an emergency meeting, one way ticket to unemployment. Moody was tracking a Death Eater, another "no" to a Patronus. Owl would take longer, but it was the only way. _Not much longer if you know which owl to use,_ she thought, a smirk coming to her lips as she ran to the window and let out a loud sound somewhere between a whistle and a hoot. Penates, her long-eared owl had begun his own training the day she became an Auror; six months later, he was a discreet owl that would always be around her, unless told otherwise and ready to make long trips faster than any other bird in case she ever needed to suddenly run away on a mission, not to mention that he had gotten higher marks on Stealth than she did, not that that was any hard. A few seconds later, she smiled as she saw his figure flying towards the Grimmauld Place before turning back to Molly. 'Alert everyone, but Kingsley and Mad-Eye. I'll go get the parchment,' she told her before sprinting out the corridor.

'Parchment, quill, ink. Where the hell does Sirius keep these things?!' She ran through the corridor as fast as she could. 'Sirius, **Sirius**!' For less than an inch, she did not trip on Kreacher who was trying to keep a random old Black relic he had been able to put his little hands upon and her mind started to wonder. Yes, Mad-Eye had been following some Death Eater, but he could be home, she could not take the risk. Although Remus had told her that he should take a couple of months to find the pack, he could still have been luck and be with them in the exact moment her Patronus arrived. After all, he was usually home by this time. She bit her lip and nearly jumped down the stairs towards the hall. She might be screwing Remus's mission in that very instant. _Please, let him be alone, please let him be alone_, she begged. '**Si**―' The next thing she knew, her nose was hurting, her back was hitting the floor and her cousin was trying to raise her back to her feet.

'What's wrong?' he asked, massaging his chest.

'Harry,' she said, bypassing the pain on her nose. 'He's been attacked … Dementors –'

'_Dementors_?'

'I need parchment!' she demanded, ignoring his question, everything could and would be explained later.

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><p>Remus had been seeking in that forest the whole week and yet not a sign that a werewolf pack had been living there now or anywhere on a recent past. Closing his eyes, he leant against a big stone and sighed. No footprints, no nests, no destroyed glade, no … nothing. Suddenly, even with closed eyes, he was able to perceive brightness and he frowned, opening his eyes, one big Siberian Husky Patronus was standing beside him and it spoke, that familiar voice was serious, but urgent.<p>

'There's been an attack. Emergency meeting NOW!'

He barely allowed other thoughts to come to his mind before taking a grip of the wand in his pocket and vanishing.

Before he even knocked on the door, he already heard Mrs Black's voice, but it seemed to have so many people running inside the house that no one bothered to close the curtains to shut her since she would be shouting again in a few minutes. Ron answered the door and Remus had just stepped inside the house when his vision was clouded by bubble-gum pink and he had to take a small step back to regain balance. Tonks had thrown herself upon his neck.

'Are you OK? I didn't ruin everything, did I?' The fear was clear in her voice. That scent invaded his nostrils in the blink of an eye. He stood there, clueless on what to do next, Remus caught a glance at everybody in the hall. They were all busy with their own tasks that did not really pay attention to them, though he thought he saw Sirius frowning and Molly smiling as their eyes fell upon them.

'No, Tonks. I'm fine,' he placed a hand very lightly on her back, wondering if he was even allowed to do more than that. 'Why would yo― _How_ would you ruin everything?'

'I – I don't know!' She finally let go off of him and lowered her tone before continuing. 'Maybe you were with _them_ already and a message from the Order would screw everything up.'

'No, I wasn't. That's what patroni are for. You did what you were supposed to do,' he smiled only for a second, straitening his eyes, he lifted her chin up. 'You don't seem that fine, though,' he touched a red spot on her nose, getting a complaint sigh in response and causing her to step back. 'What happened?'

'Your bloody friend happened,' She answered, making it sound as though it was Sirius's fault and touched that same spot, regretting it a moment later. 'I ran onto him … ' She admitted, feeling guilty.

'Come with me,' he said, already walking away. She followed him to the kitchen, where with a flick of his wand, he made a few ice cubes appear on a cloth and wrapped them before handing it over to her.

'Thanks,' she murmured, blushing slightly and placing the cloth on her nose just when Mrs Weasley entered the room.

'Harry's been expelled,' announced Molly apprehensively.

'_Expelled?_' Both of them asked, but with very different tones: Tonks almost shouted at her whislt Remus sounded as if he had not heard it right, realising that he was the one who had been attacked.

Molly nodded.

'He casted a Patronus and … they don't believe the Dementors were really there so –' she sighed and offered them a fake smile. 'Dumbledore's trying to convince the Minister not to expel him,' she explained and seemed to be trying to calm herself down more than anyone else.

'It'll be all right,' said Remus. 'Dumbledore won't let this happen,' he comforted her. The headmaster had done so much more for him, Harry using magic when he was being attacked seemed like something easy for Dumbledore to deal with.

She nodded again and her smile seemed to have become true. A moment later, Sirius appeared behind Mrs Weasley.

'Just got a message from Arthur,' he announced, his features showed that he was not exactly calm. 'Says Dumbledore convinced Fudge to have a hearing. I messaged Harry, telling him not to leave the house, just in case more Dementors show –' The doorbell cut him off.

'MUDBLOODS! HALFBREEDS! BLOOD TRAITORS! ALL DISOWNING MY PURE HOUSE!'

'How many times will I have to ask? _Don't_ use the doorbell!' Sirius rolled his eyes.

'George! Will you answer the door, please?' Molly asked.

'Must be Mad-Eye,' guessed Tonks.

'No, he's here already,' Sirius said. 'Was up there with me when we got Arthur's message. A few others are here as well.'

'That owl of yours really is fast, dear,' Molly pointed out.

'Thanks, Mrs Weasley,' Tonks took off the cloth from her face and placed it on the table, her nose feeling much better.

'Please, dear, we're colleagues now. You can call me, Molly,' she said with a smile.

Still finding strange that she would call her friend's mother by the first name, Tonks nodded. After all, she knew better than to argue with someone's say on how they rather be called. Professor Dumbledore entered the room and they all took their seats as the other members arrived.

In a matter of minutes, the headmaster had summed up the story, angrier than any of them had ever seen. How Mundungus had left his post for a few minutes, how the Dementors showed up and Harry sent them away with a Patronus Charm. How the Ministry expelled him, but he had made them see that it would not have been fair to do so without hearing the boy.

'In spite of me being able to convince Cornelius, we ought to get Harry into the Headquarters as soon as possible. Thus, I've re-considered the idea of a portkey, however, with Cornelius still not believing in the Voldemort's return and Harry's hearing, it's not worth to risk illegal options. Therefore, I would say we bring Harry this weekend,' he said, sounding scary, almost as if he had been forced to admit something.

'Albus?' barked Moody, would probably be the only one in that moment that was not somewhat afraid of the headmaster.

'Yes?'

'We could use another Guard to be ready,' he growled, 'in case the first one can't go on, don't you think?'

'Nobody's going to die, Mad-Eye,' Tonks tried to tranquilise him.

'Very good suggestion, Alastor,' Dumbledore looked around to the lot of hands already up in the air. 'The eight of you will be ready to take over if the worse happens,' he said, pointing to eight of the members. 'We need to be prepared,' he added, looking straight to Tonks over his glasses and she felt her cheeks grow red.

'And a couple more to the original Guard as well,' Moody added to which Dumbledore nodded.

'Hestia and Sturgis?' Dumbledore nodded again as their hands rose.

'Also, we'd better get the muggles out of the way, don't you think?' Sirius spoke.

'Indeed,' the headmaster said. 'Anyone?'

'We could come up with some lame prize and use the muggle post,' Tonks suggested. 'My grandparents are muggles and I used to help my father on sending them letters. It's not hard,' she told them. 'I could send one saying … they have the cleanest windows in the UK or something,' she said, shrugging. 'From what I've heard, they'd believe,' she looked at Sirius and Remus, recalling the day they had told her about the Dursleys.

'Excellent,' he said almost with a smile. 'The timing should be added as well. Say the Advance Guard should arrive there at seven? Do we all agree? We're set then,' he added for all of them nodded. 'So, if you could please add it, Nymphadora, seven o'clock.'

'Will do,' she assured him. He was so different from what Tonks was used to see that she did not even shivered from the mention of her first name. 'First thing in the morning,' That was when she noticed Arthur smiling and nodding enthusiastically at her and she smiled in return.

The next second, they heard the indistinct sound of an owl hooting.

'OUCH! Hedwig!' Ron's voice came from behind the kitchen's door. 'Go away, you _bloody_ bird! What's _wrong_ with you?'

'Hedwig! _No_!' Hermione said as Tonks stopped herself from smiling for she recognised a few extendable ears underneath the door.

Molly opened the door, followed closely by Bill who somehow managed to get the owl that had been scratching the kids.

'WHAT. IS. THIS?' Apparently, Molly had discovered the ears.

'Nothing, Mum,' George tried to hide it in his pocket, but it was far too late. 'Nothing!'

'**FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS FILLING MY HOUSE!**'

'WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?'

'**DIRTYING EVERY INCH OF MY PRECIOUS HOME!**'

'I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!'

'Give me those, come on. _All_ of them!' demanded Molly, grabbing all the extendable ears she could see.

'But, Mum, those were **months** of hard work!' Fred pleaded.

'Well, perhaps you'll learn that you'd better spend your time on something else from now on, _Friederich Weasley_!'

'Hey, look, Mum, these are letters from Harry!' Ron pointed out to stop his mother from getting all the extendable ears, his arms bleeding from Hedwig's pecks as well as Hermione's. 'And there's one for you too, Sirius,' he added, stepping into the kitchen and handing it over to Harry's godfather as the twins disapparated.

'You two _don't have to use magic_ to every little thing, you know!' she hoped she had made herself be listened by them two floors above.

''I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.'' Sirius read as Molly pulled Ron and Hermione close to her so she could clean the scratches.

'As we all know, this information cannot be given to him,' said Dumbledore, gazing especially at Harry's best friends, the angry tone even though softened, never left his voice. 'Owls could easily be intercepted and we are not in a position to take that risk,' he stated. 'The plan remains as we decided and with a dash of luck, he will arrive safely here next Saturday. The Advance Guard will meet here at five to set up the last few details and I shall be here around two hours later so the meeting can start,' the headmaster left the kitchen without another word.

'Well, if I need to send a letter the muggle way before I hit the Office tomorrow morning, I must get going,' Tonks said, getting up. 'Good night, everyone!' She wished before stepping out of the kitchen, seeing kind smiles from Remus and Sirius and hearing a few murmurs in reply.

When she was unlocking one of the various magical protections on the door, she heard Mr Weasley calling for her.

'Tonks?'

'Yeah?'

'I've got a muggle trapeitwritten,' he announced, opening a wide grin.

Tonks frowned and straightened her eyes. What the hell did he mean by that?

'A trapeitw― Oh, a typewriter, you mean?'

'Yes, yes,' he nodded. 'It's upstairs, you can use it if you want,' And lowering his voice, he added 'but Molly can't know.'

'Sure,' if she had a chance to sleep a bit later and get the chance to sleep some more in the morning, Tonks would gladly do it. She had never been a morning person. 'Lead the way.'

Climbing the stairs, they caught a glance of Bill who had just locked Hedwig in Ron's room, he was wearing dress robes and his long hair was tied on the back.

'Looking fancy, Weasley!' She winked. 'Got a date?'

'Actually, I was in the middle of one when I got the call,' he answered.

'I'll be there in a minute,' she said to Arthur for he continued to climb the stairs. 'Do I know her?' she asked curiously, turning to Bill.

'I'm sure you've heard of her,' he said with a grin.

'Really? Who's she?'

'Fleur,' he answered pompously, with a grin.

_Fleur?_, Tonks thought. The only Fleur she ever heard of was …

'_The Tri Wizard Champion?_' She asked with wide eyes.

'Umhm,' he nodded.

'She nice?'

'I believe I'm rather suspicious to answer that,' Bill said, causing them both to laugh.

'Yeah, guess you're right,' she said. 'Anyway, gotta go, stuff to do …'

'Good luck on the mission.'

'Thanks,' she smiled, 'if Mad-Eye doesn't make we go all the way via Greenland, we'll be all right,' it was now her turn to make them laugh.

'See ya.'

Entering the hall, she saw Arthur stepping out of his room with the typewriter in his hands.

'Here it is,' he said, handing it over to her and she made herself comfortable right there on the floor. Mr Weasley stood there watching as Tonks began to type. 'Mind if I watch you as you work?'

'Not at all,' she said, shaking her head with a smile and he sat beside her.

'It's almost like magic!' he said excited. 'You touch the letter and somehow it appears on the paper!'

'There are metal stuff connecting them,' she explained. 'That way, when I type here,' she pressed the letter R. 'It will move the metals and so will this little … sort of box that contains the letter I just typed and it is pressed against the paper,' she smiled, 'quite simple actually.'

'Ingenious!'

In a matter of minutes, Tonks had finished typing the letter and was leaving the headquarters when she heard a familiar voice.

'Didn't you say you were leaving like half an hour ago?' Sirius asked.

'I was,' she affirmed, 'but Arthur said I could use his typewriter and I got this done with,' she held the letter for them to read.

'It's great!' Sirius exclaimed.

'Excellent work, Tonks,' complimented Remus. 'Well done.'

'Thanks,' she said, trying hard not to blush. 'So, I'll see you on Saturday.'

'See you then,' Remus confirmed with a nod.

'See ya.'

Hearing the door lock, Tonks smiled to herself as she stepped away the protection spells. She had done a really good job, hadn't she? It was a decent change from nearly ruining what Remus had been doing in the last weeks to an 'excellent work' with the letter. For the first time, she felt like she did something really useful for the Order. Not that watching that prophecy had not been important, on the contrary, if Dumbledore needed someone there all the time, it had to be something valuable. However, the letter had been her idea, her own contribution for the Order. Because of her, they had a great plan to take the Dursleys out of the way while they rescued the boy who lived. Even if it were a small, tiny thing, she had made a difference.

* * *

><p>Tonks arrived three days later at the Number twelve, Grimmauld Place flying on her broom. It seemed such a pity to apparate with a broomstick on your hand. She knocked on the door, wiping the few drops of sweat from her forehead. Grabbing a tuft of her hair, she realised that for this mission, should be better for her to have what she called a boring hair colour, not knowing which one to choose, she decided she would change her hair to the same colour of whoever opened the door, secretly hoping for a Weasley. However, it was the brown-haired girl who answered the door.<p>

'Wotcher, Mione!' she greeted, changing her hair to brown.

'Hello, Tonks. How are you?'

'Fine and you?'

'Extremely well, considering I've been studying and they can't expel Harry!' she burst out. 'If they want to remain claiming to be a fair Ministry, they can't!'

'Everything will be all right, don't worry,' she smiled. 'Is everyone here already?' Flying had taken more time than she thought and before she knew, she was late, but it was definitely worth it.

'I think so,' Hermione said. 'Not entirely sure, though, they're in the kitchen.'

'OK, thanks!' She headed for the kitchen, but before she reached said room, Tonks met Sirius in the drawing-room. 'Pick a colour, Sirius,' she asked. They would be in the air after all, her hair colour would not really interfere. As her cousin looked back at her confused, she explained, 'Any colour. I want to change my hair.'

'Oh, er –' He thought for a moment as they went to the kitchen. 'I rather liked the violet you used the other day.'

'Did you?' she asked with a smile. 'Violet it is then!' In the blink of an eye, her hair got that violent shade of violet again.

'Why not brown, though?' he asked as they took their seats to start the meeting.

Spotting Remus, she opened a wide smile before answering her cousin.

'Dunno. Don't really fancy brown … not on my head, at least,' she added for around half of the people in that very room had brown hair. 'Besides, why brown when you can have any colour in the world?' she asked with a grin causing both of them to smile.

The meeting that was supposed to be light and a simple decision between which route take, had become a complex discussion on how they should hide themselves. Specially because Mad-Eye had been trying to convince them to use Disillusionment Charms and clouds, but none of the members seemed particularly declined to accept his suggestions.

'Mad-Eye, it will be fairly cold and we will most likely get wet,' Remus stated. 'Why don't we just left clouds to a last resource? I'm not saying no, if we really need to hide and there are good ones on our route, we will. However, I don't think that should be our priority,' Everyone in the room seemed eternally grateful to him for voicing so well their thoughts.

'Fair enough, Lupin,' Mad-Eye growled. 'Don't forget it is not discarded either, huh!'

'I won't,' he nodded shortly.

'Off we go then.'

They all got up to grab their brooms before leaving the Headquarters.

'Harry has a broom, doesn't he?' Kingsley asked. 'It's not the best thing to have two on a broomstick.'

'Yes, he does!' Sirius said with a grin, recalling the present he had given to his godson.

'His looks aren't everything he inherited from James,' Remus said, taking his from the lot of broomsticks. 'Wouldn't live without a broom.'

'Wow!' Tonks exclaimed seeing Lupin's broomstick. 'It's been ages since I last saw an Oakshaft Seventy-nine,' she commented, causing him to blush slightly. 'What's the year?' she asked, taking it from his hands.

'Seventy-nine,' he rubbed the back of his neck, disconcerted. 'The special edition of a hundred year anniversary. It was a gift … from James,' he smiled, trying to send away all the bad thoughts that came to his mind. 'You see, I never really cared much about flying, but we had a mission to rescue an Order member – Marlene – Marlene McKinnon and I didn't have a broom – never needed one and … he gave it to me,' he finished with a smile.

'And how was the mission?' she asked, examining the broomstick.

He took his time, breathing deeply before answering.

'She was already dead when we got there,' al the thoughts he did not want her to know kept rushing, but he kept going, 'along with her whole family. They had tortured her for information … but she never said a thing.'

'Good,' said Tonks.

'Good? How exactly is that _good_?'

'If someone already died on a mission you mounted this broom, what are the odds another one will?' she said simply with a smile. Tonks winked, handing it back to him before leaving.

Remus stood there for a moment staring at the doorway she had just gone through. His instincts were telling him that this was war for Merlin's sake! If they did not do everything carefully, people could die. Though, she chose to believe that there was a good side on the McKinnon's deaths, everything would be all right tonight because bad things had already happened. He chuckled, shaking his head. Well, if things were really like this, nothing would ever happen again, would it? If only he could be so positive about the war like she was … They had to be careful anyway, it all depended on it. What could happen if Harry died today? He knew Harry had a crucial part to play on the war, he was not a mere pawn. Though he had to admit, she had never said anything about not being careful … He finally left the kitchen just to see her again a few feet from him, talking with Ginny.

'Nah, it's easy,' Tonks said. 'You just take something – _anything_ and throw on the door, if it can't make contact, the door was imperturbed,' she finished with a smile.

As he approached, Remus saw the youngest girl quickly pocketing something. Was that what he thought it was?

Tonks winked at Ginny and started to walk down the hall.

'Why were you telling her about how to identify an imperturbed door?' he asked, following her.

'I don't know what you are talking about, Remus,' she said not even looking back at him, but he could tell she was trying hard not to grin.

'Tonks, you _know_ they're not supposed to know,' he argued. 'There is a reason why we don't allow them to come to the meetings,' it pained him to supress his inner Marauder, specially with the moon getting closer to its full, but Ginny was not of age yet. The Order was not an organisation for children, they were the front line of the war.

'Lovely night for a flight,' she stated, stepping outside.

Remus knew better then to argue with her in that moment. After all, there was nothing he could do about it now. Ginny knew and there was no stopping her on telling the others. Harry would arrive today and they would need to be extra careful in the next meetings, he just needed to make sure the door was imperturbed before the meeting started, like Molly had done today.

'Where were you two?' Moody asked as they entered a small square right in front of the Grimmauld Place, one she had never really paid attention before, his magical eye seemed to be trying to look at all the places at once.

'In the house,' she answered, opening her arms, she knew this was not the answer he was looking for and tried not to smile as he rolled his eye, well, the normal eye that was not already rolling.

'Did you get the route, Tonks?' he asked. 'You're leading the way and we can't have you leading us to the wrong way.'

'I got it.'

'Did you do everything right there in the muggle post?'

'I di-id,' she answered, putting the harness she had borrowed from the Auror Headquarters on her broom in order to carry Harry's trunk and his owl's cage.

'If they're still there when we arrive, you'll have to find a way to deal with them,' he stated and she scoffed.

'Did you get everything from Dumbledore?' she asked, mimicking him.

Before Moody could glare at her, a silver cat with a spectable marking around its eyes apperared and it spoke with Professor McGonagall's voice.

'Rear Guard on position.'

Now that Tonks thought about it, she would die to see her on a broom. She knew how much that witch loved quidditch, how many times she heard her saying Charlie was Gryffindor's hope for winning the House Cup, but Quidditch was not enough for the red House. Sadly, during six of her seven years at Hogwarts, Slytherin had won.

Up there in the sky, red sparks had appeared.

'We should Disillusion ourselves,' Moody suggested.

'We've been through this, Mad-Eye,' Kingsley said in his calm, deep voice. 'Harry will be the only one Disillusioned.'

'He's got an Invisibility Cloak,' Remus remembered.

'No,' Mad-Eye stated. 'The cloak could easily fly off of him. The Charm is much safer.'

'Second signal!' announced Hestia, already flying to the air.

'We're off then,' Mad-Eye growled. 'I hope to see you all back here. Remember we'll have half an hour in there!' he shouted so that even the members that were already flying could listen to him.

Impelling against the ground, Tonks laughed at the sight of Kingsley rolling his eyes at Moody's paranoia. She loved Mad-Eye to death, but everyone was aware at how much the old days had left him crazy about safety.

The sound of Tonks's laughter filled the air as they went up to the sky and Remus found himself smiling. Such a pure sound as though she had precisely nothing to worry about. Not many people were able to let go of their worries like that, he was still amused by the way she was so positive about it all; despite the war, she had this wonderful way of not letting the fight bring her down and he wondered: if not even the whole wizarding world being in grave danger could bring her down, what could?

Suddenly, he saw a violet lightening cross his path and nearly knock him down his broom. Tonks winked and Remus leant on the broom to gain some speed until he was beside her. They were flying so fast that not even if a Muggle saw them, would realise it was a someone on a broom so, Moody could not exactly complaint.

'Having second thoughts towards your Auror career?' he asked her for she seemed to be having such a great time.

'Ha! No way!' she assured him. 'Mad-Eye would kill me! Besides, I'm a better Auror than a Quidditch player. Though, I could use a bit less paperwork,' she scrunched her nose. 'What about you?' she asked, suddenly curious. 'If you could have _any_ job in the world, what would you do?'

Remus thought about that question for a moment. He did not have a lot of experience, the only real job he ever had was the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts and he had loved every minute. Though, when he was student, he had always considered working on Flourish and Blotts or any other bookstore or even a library, he never really considered being a teacher until Professor Dumbledore offered him the job. However, to touch those minds in a way that would mark their lives forever, had given him a new perspective of what really matters, help the students to learn how to defend themselves was something he never thought would be as good as it was.

'I suppose I would go back to teaching.'

'Really? Interesting,' she said with a nod, not really wanting to say that it seemed like a boring choice, but oh well, if he liked it, who was she to say it was boring? She changed the direction of her broom all of a sudden and turned back to yell at him. 'Keep it up, Lupin!'

He turned his broom to the direction she was going now, but did not reach her; they had been going far too fast for him. He decided to stay back, as if this way he would have an excuse to watch her. His sharpened senses because of the proximity of the full moon could be really useful for the mission, but on the other hand, he had this strange feeling about that girl doing loops in front of him almost as if he had to protect her with everything in him, he needed her to be safe. Though, it did not really bother him that much, from all the Order members, she was definitely the one he had bonded the most, right after Sirius of course, it was only natural that he wanted to protect the ones he was close to. Besides, she was the youngest of them all, not that he doubted her abilities, Mad-Eye would not chose anyone to be his protégée, it had to be someone with nerve, someone that knew what they were doing. It did not take long, or it did not seem to, until he heard Mad-Eye growling from somewhere behind him.

'Tonks, if you wish to stay in this country, you go down and land over there.'

She slightly shook her head, but obeyed.

'You see!' Tonks pointed to the number four of the Privet Drive as she landed. 'Not a light in the house! They – are – gone.'

However, Moody did not want to take any risks and searched for the house where Mrs Figg was by the window and she nodded at him, confirming what Tonks had just said. Limping, Mad-Eye walked to the door, touching it with his wand, he opened the door and the nine of them entered the house.

'The house is bigger than I thought,' Hestia said.

'So many Muggle items!' Dedalus observed, as they entered the kitchen. 'Look!' He pointed to the big white thing that was the refrigerator.

'What do you reckon that is?' Elphias asked in his wheezy voice.

'No idea,' answered Kingsley.

'What do they even use all these things for?' Hestia questioned, opening a drawer.

Tonks turned around to see the things she was talking about and her elbow knocked down a plate.

'Tonks, for Merlin's sake!' Moody scolded.

'I'm sorry!' she apologised.

'_Reparo_!' Remus fixed the plate. 'There you go,' he handed it over to her with a smile.

'Thanks,' she smiled grateful, putting the plate back where she thought it may have been.

'C'mon. We ought to get the boy,' barked Mad-Eye. 'Which door do you think it's his, Lupin?' he asked when they were all standing on the hall.

'Try the locked one.'

With a flick of his wand, Moody unlocked said door open, the Advance Guard was barely breathing in expectation. Very slowly, the boy left the room, holding his wand.

'Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out,' growled Moody.

'Professor Moody?' Harry asked, uncertainly, after lowering the wand a bit.

Tonks smiled, it was the first time she ever heard someone call Mad-Eye by "Professor Moody".

'I don't know so much about "Professor",' he replied, 'never got round too much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly.'

However, Harry did not move; he stood there, staring at them. Remus smiled. He had every right to be uneasy, he did not know any of the people there beside him and he had spent several months with a Death Eater that claimed to be Moody.

'It's all right, Harry,' he said, trying to calm the boy. 'We've come to take you away.'

'P-Professor Lupin?' Harry said as though it seemed almost impossible for him to be there. 'Is that you?'

Professor Lupin? Tonks grinned. That was a new one! Not that she did not know about Remus being a professor, but actually hearing someone treat him as one was something else. She looked at them, but she could not see a thing without light.

'Why are we all standing in the dark?' she asked, rhetorically. A bunch of grown wizards with the ability to produce light with a single word and yet none of them had thought about it. '_Lumos_!' she lighted the tip of her wand, illuminating the hall.

Remus's eyes held so much care in a way she had never seen before, it would be clear for anyone that that fifteen-year-old was incredibly important to him. Not entirely sure on why she was feeling somewhat jealous of Harry, she turned her gaze to him. If it were not for his eyes, he would be a perfect copy of the boy she saw a month ago on that picture at Sirius's room, just like they had told her.

'Ooh, he looks just like I thought he would,' she smiled as he turned his gaze to her. 'Wotcher, Harry!'

'Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus,' said Kingsley's deep voice, 'he looks exactly like James.'

'Except the eyes,' Elphias said. 'Lily's eyes.'

'Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?' Moody asked. 'It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?'

Tonks blinked, surprised that Moody did not think about bringing Veritaserum back at Headquarters.

'Harry, what form does your Patronus take?' Remus asked, recalling his last day as a professor at Hogwarts.

'A stag,' Harry answered, nervously.

'That's him, Mad-Eye,' he confirmed.

Clearly uneasy, Harry came down the stairs, putting his wand on the back of his jeans.

'Don't put your wand there, boy!' roared Moody. 'What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!'

'Who d'you know has lost a buttock?' Tonks asked, fighting the mental image of it. She had long lost hope to not be surprised by Mad-Eye.

'Never _you_ mind,' he replied, 'you just keep your wand out of your back pocket! Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it anymore,' he left back to the kitchen.

Tonks rolled her eyes. Only Mad-Eye would still care about elementary wand-safety, had she even heard about it before? Maybe during Auror training … Yeah … Possibly.

'And I saw that!' he added, irritably to which she smiled, looking at Harry.

Remus smiled and held his hand to shake Harry's. It was amazing how much he had grown in a year. Each and every day he was becoming more like his best friend, but his eyes did not change in the slightest, the perfect colour and shape of Lily's.

'How are you?' Remus asked.

'F-Fine …' Harry answered still amazed that all of a sudden, without a single note, there were this lot of wizards to remove him from the Privet Drive. 'I'm – you're really lucky the Dursleys are out …' he mumbled.

'Lucky, ha!' Tonks said, hardly believing he would think that the Order of the Phoenix would rely on luck to rescue the famous Harry Potter. 'It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Law Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now … or they_ think_ they are.'

'We are leaving, aren't we?' Harry asked, clearly eager to leave that house. 'Soon?'

'Almost at once,' Remus answered, 'we're just waiting for the all-clear.'

'Where are we going? The Burrow?'

'Not the Burrow, no,' Remus motioned Harry towards the kitchen, shaking his head and the Advance Guard followed them, all trying to get a better view of the boy who lived. 'Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while …'

Moody sat by the table, grabbed the hip flask from the inner pocket of his coat and drank, his blue eye trying to locate possible threats outside the house. Realising how nervously Harry was gazing at Mad-Eye, Remus perceived that he had never been introduced to the real Moody nor to any of the other wizards.

'This is Alastor Moody, Harry.'

'Yeah, I know,' Harry answered, uncomfortable.

Remus took in a deep breath she had to be next for she was right beside him, he was not really picking favourites. … Right?

'And this is Nymphadora –'

'_Don't_ call me Nymphadora, _Remus_,' she shuddered from the use of that awful name, didn't he know better than to call her that? 'It's Tonks.'

'Nymphadora Tonks who prefers to be known by her surname_ only_,' Remus added very aware of the fact that she did not like to be called by her given name, but he was introducing her, didn't he have the right to use it then?

'So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora,' folding her arms, Tonks muttered so only Remus and Harry could hear. He had not been given that horrible name to know what it was to be called by it …

'And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt,' the tall black bald wizard bowed. 'Elphias Doge,' Dumbledore's grey-haired friend nodded. 'Dedalus Diggle –'

'We've met before,' Dedalus reminded Harry.

'Emmeline Vance,' the witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head. 'Sturgis Podmore,' the wizard with a square-jaw winked. 'And Hestia Jones,' the woman beside the toaster smiled as he finished. Nine may have been a bit too much, but 'A surprisingly number of people volunteered to come get you,' he added, recalling that basically the whole Order would have come if needed be. The corner of his mouth slightly twisted as he realised that despite so many wanting to protect him, Harry was in a grave danger now that the Dark Lord had returned.

'Yeah, well, the more, the better,' Moody said darkly, if it were up to him, he would have brought the whole Order. 'We're your guard, Potter,' he informed Harry.

'We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off,' Remus informed Harry, glancing outside the window, as if searching for the blue light that would suggest a change of plans, seeing none, he added 'We've got about fifteen minutes.'

Tonks had been looking around and the cleanness was beginning to get to her. It did not seem to have a tiny dirty spot on the walls, nor a single object out of place, OK maybe the plate she had broken before.

'Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?' she said, looking around the kitchen interestedly. 'My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards,' she had never thought about it before, she had automatically assumed that Muggles were practically the same for she had never had any contact with them, but now, the variation did make more sense.

'Er – yeah,' Harry said, unsure on how not to show that he was stating the obvious and deciding to move to the topic he had been eager to know the whole summer. 'Look –' he turned to Lupin, 'what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol―?'

But he was cut off by practically the whole Guard hissing. Talking about Voldemort was a bit too much.

'Shut up!' Moody growled, looking everywhere with his magical eye.

'What?' asked Harry, as though he had simply asked about the weather.

'We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky,' he turned his gaze back to Harry, but his magical eye got stuck on the ceiling. 'Damn it!' he cursed, putting his hand up to it. 'It keeps getting stuck – ever since that scum wore it,' with a nasty squelching sound, he popped the eye out.

'Mad-Eye, you _do_ know that's disgusting, don't you?' Tonks asked, guessing she was probably the only one in that room to voice what they all had been thinking as well as recalling the only time she had seen him do exactly that, not three years ago. She had had the hope she would never see it again.

'Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry?' he asked, ignoring her. 'Cheers,' he added when Harry brought him the glass filled with water. He put the eye into the water, prodding it up and down, the eye stared at all of them. 'I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey.'

'How're we getting – wherever we're going?' Harry asked.

'Brooms,' Remus answered. 'Only way. You're too young to apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey.'

'Remus says you're a good flier,' Kingsley commented.

'He's excellent!' Lupin corrected him, checking his watch. 'Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes.' He added, if they started to talk about Harry's abilities riding a broom, they'd be there the whole night.

'I'll come and help you,' Tonks offered brightly and cannot waiting to see more of the Muggle home.

Remus watched as Tonks followed Harry, looking around everything with the light of her wand, back to the hall and up the stairs. The silence fell upon them, but slowly they all began to distract themselves with the items of the kitchen. He sat by the table to write down a letter to Harry's relatives, they needed to know that everything would be OK, that their nephew was safe.

* * *

><p>'Funny place,' Tonks said, still barely believing that there was not a thing on the floor or out of place. 'It's a bit<em> too<em> clean, d'you know what I mean? Bit unnatural. Oh, this is better!' She added with a smile, entering Harry's bedroom and seeing the mess.

Walking around the room as the boy grabbed the books on the floor and threw them in the trunk, she was able to see, for the first time, on the mirror, the violet her cousin had said he liked, was it her or it was sort of crank?

'You know, I don't think violet's really my colour,' she pointed out, tugging at a lock of her spiky hair. 'D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?'

'Er –' Harry looked at her over the top of Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland.

'Yeah, it does,' she concluded, closing her eyes and with a strained expression, she morphed her hair back to her favourite bubble-gum pink.

'How did you do that?' Harry asked with wide eyes.

'I'm a Metamorphmagus,' she explained it by what? The thousandth time? Looking back at the mirror, she checked her hair in all directions to see if it was the way she liked the most, she wanted to look presentable, she wanted to look good, Remus was downstairs after all. _Wait, what?_ Harry's expression brought her back and she automatically added, 'It means I can change my appearance at will. I was born one. I got top marks in Concealment and Disguise during Auror training without any study at all, it was great,' she smiled, recalling how the other trainees had to work hard to get the usual marks.

'You're an Auror?' Harry asked, clearly impressed.

'Yeah,' Tonks answered, her chest inflating on admitting her proudest achievement. 'Kingsley is as well, he's a bit higher up than me, though,' she added for he clearly did not have a clue on what all those wizards and witches did with their lives. Of course the "bit" part was a joke. Kingsley could have taken Mad-Eye's post as the Head of the Department when the elder retired if he wanted to. 'I only qualified a year ago. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking. I'm dead clumsy, did you hear me break that plate when we arrived downstairs?' she asked, recalling that the time she did not have to study for Concealment and Disguise, she had to use for Stealth and Tracking.

'Can you learn how to be a Metamorphmagus?' Harry asked at once.

Tonks chuckled. It was not the first time she was asked that question, but there was something different about the way Harry directed those words to her, something she knew very well for she too felt that way. It was as if he did not want people to judge him from the outside, but by his soul, by who he really was.

'Bet you wouldn't mind hiding that scar sometimes, eh?' she asked, searching for the world's most famous lightning.

'No, I wouldn't mind,' Harry mumbled, turning away.

'Well, you'll have to learn the hard way, I'm afraid,' she told him. 'Metamorphmagi are really rare, they're _born_, not made. Most wizards need to use a wand, or potions, to change their appearance. But we've got to get going, Harry, we're supposed to be packing,' She added, guiltily. _It's not about your ability, it's about the mission, Tonks. Focus!_, she reminded herself.

'Oh – yeah,' Harry said, taking a few more books from the floor.

'Don't be stupid, it'll be much easier if I – _Pack_!' she cried, waving her wand in a long, sweeping movement over the floor, encompassing everything that needed to be packed and trying to do the way her mother always did. Harry's belongings flew to the open trunk and she walked towards it to check.

'It's not very neat,' she admitted. 'My mum's got this knack of getting stuff to fit itself in neatly – she even get the socks to fold themselves – but I've never mastered how she does it – it's a kind of flick –' She flicked her wand, hopefully. One of Harry's socks gave a feeble sort of wiggle and flopped back on top of the mess in the trunk. 'Ah, well,' she said, disappointedly as she closed Harry's trunk. She would never learn how to do it the way her mother did, she was way too much like her father to that, 'at least it's all in,' she pointed out and looking at Hedwig's cage, she said 'That could use a bit of cleaning too. _Scourgify_!' She cleaned a few feathers and droppings. 'Well, that's a bit better –' she added, her cleaning spell had always been better than the pack one due to the fact she had used it far more times to clean her messes. But of course Andromeda would have been able to let the cage so clean it would be shinning. 'I've never quite got the hang of these householdy sort of spells,' Even though she had tried countless times, specially after she moved out three years ago.

'Right – got everything?' she asked seeing Harry's hands full. 'Cauldron? Broom? Wow! – A Firebolt!' she exclaimed with wide eyes. She had never seen one so close like this. 'And I'm still riding a Comet Two Sixty!' she said, envying the boy and slightly worried about being the one that would have to ride in front of him on the way back home, if she was not fast enough, he would run over her. The small envy she felt was gone as fast as it came when she thought about her flat; she had set her priorities a long time ago.

'Ah well … wand still in your jeans?' she questioned not seeing the most important item. 'Both buttocks still on?' she joked, recalling it was still in his back pocket. 'OK, let's go. _Locomotor trunk_!'

They left the room and entered the kitchen not a minute later. Tonks gladly realised that Mad-Eye's eye was well, mad, but back where it was supposed to be.

'Excellent!' Remus exclaimed, seeing both of them back into the kitchen. 'We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry –'

'They won't,' assured Harry.

'―that you're safe –'

'That'll just depress them.'

'―and you'll see them next summer.'

'Do I have to?'

Remus smiled. That boy standing right in front of him may not remember his parents, but some things could not be changed. It was in his blood.

'Come here, boy,' Moody said with gruffness and beckoning Harry towards him with his wand. 'I need to Disillusion you.'

'You need to what?' Harry asked nervously.

'Disillusionment Charm,' Mad-Eye explained raising his wand. 'Lupin says you've got an Invisibility Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying; this will disguise you better. Here you go –' Hardly, he touched the top of Harry's head and the boy became exactly like the kitchen behind him.

'Nice one, Mad-Eye,' Tonks complimented. She would not be able to cast such a good enchantment; her mentor had always been so good with these spells.

'Come on,' Moody said as he limped to the outside, unlocking the door with his wand. 'Clear night,' he grunted, scanning the sky as they all entered the garden. 'Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right, you,' he barked at Harry. 'We're going to be flying in close formation. Tonks'll be right in front of you, keep close on her tail. Lupin'll be covering you from below; I'm going to be behind you. The rest'll be circling us. We don't break ranks for _anything_, got me? If one of us is killed –'

'Is that likely?' Harry asked, apprehensively, but Moody ignored him. If it were not likely, would he be talking about it? Tonks smiled, getting Harry's belongings.

'―the others keep flying, don't stop, don't break ranks. If they take out all of us and you survive, Harry, the Rear Guard are standing by to take over; keep flying east and they'll join you.'

'Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, he'll think we're not taking this seriously,' Tonks said, strapping Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage into the harness.

'I'm just telling the boy the plan,' Moody growled. 'Our job's to deliver him safely to Headquarters and if we die in the attempt –'

'No one's going to die,' Kingsley cut him off, it felt as though he was back at the Auror Headquarters, with everyone trying to convince Mad-Eye that they were not going to die in the mission.

'Mount your brooms, that's the first signal!' Lupin said sharply, pointing to the bright red sparks into the sky.

They all swung a leg over their brooms as Remus's sharpened eyes scanned the sky for the next shower of sparks.

'Second signal, let's go!' he shouted, seeing the green ones.

Kicking off from the ground, they went high up, the cold breeze rushing through their hairs. When they reached a decent amount of high, Tonks looked back to check if Harry was close to her, but all she could see was a bizarre sight, some distortions on Mad-Eye's features and a Firebolt that seemed to be flying on its own.

'Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!' shouted Mad-Eye and Tonks did so. 'We need more height … give it another quarter of mile!'

_Would ever be a decent height for Mad-Eye?_, Tonks thought, but headed up, shivering from cold as they reached said height.

'Bearing south!' Moody shouted again a few minutes later. 'Town ahead!' and Tonks changed courses one more time. 'Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!' he shouted again, spotting the clouds.

'We're not going through clouds!' Tonks replied, angrily. Hadn't they been through this at the Headquarters already? 'We'll get soaked, Mad-Eye!'

Remus smiled at the way she shouted, almost in ire, but he silently looked up and thanked her, they were all really freezing in their brooms, if they went higher, they would need a warming spell just to leave the broom. The other members of the Advance Guard kept circling and around them, wand at the ready, to assure that the mission would end well. However, Mad-Eye would not leave them in course for ten whole minutes, shouting different directions to avoid every tiny little thing. Lupin was beginning to think that Tonks was dealing surprisingly well with Mad-Eye's paranoia until …

'We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!' Moody shouted.

'ARE YOU _MAD_, MAD-EYE!' Tonks screamed at the top of her lungs. 'We're all frozen to our brooms! If we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week!' she had taken enough, she had been holding back the whole journey because she was cold and did not want to be screaming, the wind on their ears and the flapping of their clothes made it all more difficult, but he had crossed the edge this time. Seeing the huge amount of lights that was London ahead, she added, 'Besides we're nearly there now!'

'Time to start the descent!' Remus announced. 'Follow Tonks, Harry!'

She had never been happier to hear that hoarse voice, specially because it had contradicted Mad-Eye, she felt as though she could kiss the one who produced such sexy sound. _Wait, what?_ _What's wrong with you today, Tonks?_, she asked herself, shaking her head to send away those thought and pointing her broom to the ground, flying lower and lower. _Me, kissing Remus Lupin, ha! Good one!_ She chuckled.

'Here we go!' Tonks grinned and a few seconds later, twenty feet had hit the ground.


	10. 9 The Boy Who Lived

**A/N: **Hellooo, everyone! Didn't expect to hear from me this soon, am I right? XD So, yeah, I would've finished this sooner, but I barely wrote this week, the great majority of this chapter was written today. Though, it's pretty much like the book, I've changed very little, added a few thoughts and reactions, but I really wanted this to be in my fic so, here it is and well, that's why I finished today, couldn't have done it if it weren't so like the book. I have no idea of when I'll be able to post again, it can be within a week or two or a month, Idk.  
>I wanted to publish chapter 10 today because of Ginny's birthday, but I just couldn't get it done, so yeah. Happy birthday, Ginny! And enjoy, guys!<p>

PS: Don't forget to share your thoughts on this chapter by clicking on the blue button by the end of the page, OK? Please? Thanks!

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 9: The Boy Who Lived<span>**

'Here let me help you,' Remus said behind Tonks, who was having some trouble on taking Harry's trunk from the harness on her broom because of how cold her fingers were. She smiled and hoped he had not noticed the colour on her cheeks as she remembered what was in her mind not a minute ago.

'Where are we?' Harry asked.

'In a minute,' Remus answered in a low tone, still feeling he was the only link between Harry and the Order and seeing Moody searching his coat for everything he needed to let the boy know about the hidden Headquarters.

'Got it,' Mad-Eye said, taking an object that looked like an old, silver cigarette lighter and clicking it, causing the nearest street lamp to go out with a pop. He kept clicking it until there were no lights on the street, but the moon's.

Remus and Tonks finished working on Harry's belongings and were now ready to lift it from the ground as soon as Moody was done with the lights.

'Borrowed it from Dumbledore,' he growled, pocketing the Put-Outer. 'That'll take care of any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick,' he added, pulling Harry by the arm.

Together, Lupin and Tonks carried Harry's trunk from the square until the pavement across the road, with the other members flanking Harry. There, Mad-Eye held a piece of parchment for Harry to see with the light on the tip of his wand. Of course they all could see the number twelve, but if Dumbledore himself did not let him know, he would never be able to see the house.

'Here. Read quickly and memorise.'

'What's the Order of the –?' Harry began.

'Not here, boy!' Moody practically shouted. 'Wait till were inside!'

Moody set fire to the piece of parchment as Harry looked between the houses confused.

'But where's –?'

'Think about what you've just memorised,' Remus explained, using that professorial tone Tonks had heard him use a month ago and she bit her lip. Well, it just meant he really had a sexy one, nothing else.

An instant later, the expression in the boy's face let them know that he was seeing the Headquarters and Moody pushed him towards the door. Remus left Tonks with the trunk and Hedwig's cage to open the door with the tip of his wand.

'Get in quick, Harry,' he whispered, 'but don't go far inside and don't touch anything,' he added, afraid that he could awake Walburga's portrait or enter the kitchen, where the meeting might or might not be already happening and went back to help the auror carry Harry's trunk.

The boy entered the dark house and the Advance Guard followed him.

'Watch out for the steps,' Remus warned her with a smile to which Tonks rolled her eyes, playfully. She climbed it backwards with Lupin after her, leaving only Moody behind them to restore the lights of the street. Mad-Eye entered and closed the door behind him, leaving them all in the dark.

'Here –' Moody touched Harry's head hard with the tip of his wand, reverting the spell. 'Now, stay still, everyone, whislt I give us a bit of light in here,' he said and for a moment, Tonks felt as if he had glared at her. They watched as Mad-Eye flicked his wand towards the first cobwebby chandelier, lightening all the subsequential ones.

'D'you think he's here yet?' Dedalus murmured.

'Not sure,' Hestia answered.

'By the silence,' Emmeline whispered. 'It's probably started,' she said as Mrs Weasley came from the kitchen.

'Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!' she whispered, pulling him into a hug. 'You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid,' she then, turned to the Guard. 'He's just arrived, the meeting's started.'

Tonks and Remus put Harry's belongings on the corner and headed to the kitchen after a few murmurs of interest and excitement of the other members. Harry began to follow them, but Molly stopped him.

'No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order. Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over, then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall,' they heard Mrs Weasley say before entering the kitchen.

Dumbledore had just finished collecting the reports on the prophecy's guard and now that they had all arrived, they could begin to set the schedule for the next week, Tonks got a couple shifts for herself as usual, but had never had two in a row like this time. In the underground of the Ministry of Magic was not her favourite way to spend her Friday and Saturday nights, but if it were to defeat You-Know-Who, it was worth it, after all she would have the whole Sunday to sleep. The headmaster hoped they could find a new entrance to the Prophecy Hall so, they would call far less attention to themselves, by entering from what they had started to call "Potential back door". He had brought a few maps from the Ministry of Magic and Bill offered himself to search for all the possibilities, opening the parchments on the corner of the table he was and under the candle light.

After that, Mad-Eye insisted on giving a detailed report on how went the Advance Guard's mission, letting them all know of each and every single Muggle that looked up to the sky when they were flying. And finally when their stomachs were howling for food, the headmaster ended the meeting by reminding them, specially Sirius, or at least it seemed to be, that they should not allow Harry know more than he needed to and right before leaving, he said, directly to Sirius, not to do anything rash one more time.

Snape had just left the room, when Remus ran after him.

'Severus?' he called.

'Yes?' he slowly turned to see who was disturbing him. 'Lupin?'

'I just wanted to ask you,' Remus began. 'that once it is finished, the Wolfsbane Potion, I mean, if you please, could leave it here for me.'

'…Naturally,' he gazed at Lupin as though he had voiced the obvious.

'However, I will not need it next month,' he informed his former colleague. If he had not find the pack by then, he would need to let his werewolf instincts guide him and if he did find them, then well, he would be in grave danger by being the only one conscious among so many grown lycans. Snape stared at him for an instant before asking.

'Are you certain about that? We would not want a werewolf howling where it shouldn't.'

'Yes, I am.'

'Very well,' Snape left without another word.

* * *

><p>'Mundungus!' Molly called, but Mad-Eye's speech had been too much for him and he had been sleeping for about the last forty minutes.<p>

'Leave him there, Molly,' Sirius pleaded. 'He'll wake up in a bit and then he can have dinner.'

Mrs Weasley glared at Sirius, but he had been gazing at the crook and did not even realise; then, she left the room to close the door behind the ones that would not stay for dinner and Tonks followed her to help. The two of them met Remus by the hall and had just closed all the magical locks when Molly spoke to the lot of kids coming down the stairs.

'We're eating down the kitchen,' she whispered, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs as Remus and Tonks passed by them. 'Harry, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the hall, it's through this door here –'

Molly was cut off by the loud sound of the heavy umbrella stand hitting the floor, mixed with the sound of Tonks's body falling over it.

'Tonks!' Mrs Weasley cried in exasperation, turning to look behind her.

'I'm sorry!' Tonks wailed from the floor as Remus walked toward her to help her back to her feet. 'It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's the _second_ time I've tripped over that damn thing.'

But her last words were lost by Sirius's mother. Remus meant to ask if she was all right, but the scream would make it impossible so, he ran to help Molly close the portrait's curtains to shut Mrs Black.

'Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks be gone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my father's –'

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry!' Tonks apologised over and over as she put the umbrella stand back up.

Remus was left alone on his attempt to close the curtains as Mrs Weasley went to stop the other pictures from joining Walburga, though it did not last long, soon, Sirius bursted out of the kitchen.

'Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!' he roared, seizing the curtain Mrs Weasley had abandoned.

'Yoooou!' she howled. 'Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!'

'I said – shut – UP!' he roared again before shooting a glance at Remus and with a small nod, both of them forced the curtains closed again.

Sirius put his long hair out of his eyes before turning to his godson, panting slightly.

'Hello, Harry,' he said, grimly. 'I see you've met my mother.'

'Your –?'

'My dear old mum, yeah,' said Sirius.

Remus walked toward Tonks and was finally able to voice to her what he wanted to a couple of minutes ago.

'Are you all right?' he asked, concerned.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' she answered, wiping her knees and blushing.

Slowly she lifted up her gaze to face him, with a smile he tilted his head toward the kitchen's door and together, they entered said room, followed closely by Harry and Sirius.

Arthur, who had offered to help his eldest son on the searching, was talking quietly to him when Molly cleared her throat, causing her husband to jump to his feet.

'Harry!' Mr Weasley greeted, hurrying forward and shaking the boy's hand vigorously. 'Good to see you!' he added, leaving to Bill the task of rolling up the lengths of parchment.

'Journey all right, Harry?' Bill asked, trying to get all of them all in his arms at once. 'Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?' he said, recalling his conversation with Moody's protégée a few days ago.

'He tried,' Tonks assured him with a smile and realising he had been left alone with the parchments, she ran to help him, but ended up toppling a candle on the last of them. 'Oh no – sorry –'

'Here, dear,' said Mrs Weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired it with a wave of her wand. 'This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings,' she snapped for she saw Harry looking at the parchment's content and went to get plates in the dresser.

'_Evanesco_!' Bill muttered and the scrolls vanished.

'Sit down, Harry,' They heard Sirius say as both took their seats. 'You've met Mundungus, haven't you?'

'Some'n say m'name?' Dung mumbled sleepily. 'I 'gree with Sirius…' he said as he always did and raising his hand, as though they were voting to choose if he rather have two or three members of the Order watching the prophecy.

'The meeting's over, Dung,' Sirius informed him. 'Harry's arrived.'

'Eh?' Mundungus looked at Harry. 'Blimey, so 'e 'as. Yeah… you all right, 'Arry?'

'Yeah,' Harry answered as Dung started searching in all of his pockets, his eyes never left the boy as he pulled out his pipe. He put it in his mouth, igniting it with the tip of his wand and letting out the smelly green smoke.

'Owe you a 'pology,' he grunted from beneath the cloud of smoke.

'For the last time, Mundungus,' cried Molly. 'Will you please _not_ smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!'

'Ah,' he said. 'Right. Sorry, Molly,' He added, pocketing the pipe.

'And if you want dinner before midnight, I'll need a hand,' Molly stated to particularly no one, but Remus thought he saw she glaring at Dung for less than a second before turning to Harry. 'No, you can stay where you are, Harry, dear; you've had a long journey.'

'What can I do, Molly?' Tonks asked, promptly bounding forwards, but Molly looked apprehensive at the girl.

'Er – no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today.'

However, Tonks was not feeling tired at all, but eager to spend the energy in her body.

'No, no, I want to help!' she said, brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried towards the dresser from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.

Remus frowned a bit, Molly was precipitating, she was not that clumsy – OK, maybe she was, but she could still help without dropping anything if she had a little help. He walked to the pantry and smiled at the girl, inviting her to come with him. Tonks followed him and together, they started to bring the goblets; behind her, Remus was ready to grab anything that eventually fell, but nothing did.

'Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights… I've been stuck inside for a month,' they heard Sirius say as they re-entered the kitchen and Lupin nearly collide with Tonks, who had stopped abruptly when she heard those words.

Remus had never heard his best friend being so bitter, specially with Harry, who had not had the best of summers so far, he never thought he would. Sirius was trying to keep it all inside so far, but it seemed he was tired of it. Tonks looked back at him and she saw her pain reflected in Remus's eyes. Unfortunately, there was nothing that either of them could do, if they did not catch Pettigrew, there was no way Sirius could be freed.

'Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix… or so Dumbledore feels,' he answered his godson and they all realised the dislike Sirius had put in the headmaster's name.

Tonks hurried out of the room, there was no point in staying in the kitchen and listening to it, Remus followed her into the pantry.

'Ugh!' she burst out. '_I hate this_!'

'So do I,' he said, leaning against the wall. More than ever, he wished he could grab a time-turner and go back to that day at Hogwarts and somehow alert himself about the truth, but he knew he could not, he knew better than screwing up with a timeline. 'But don't think about that,' he stated, trying his best to supress his hate for Peter and taking a few goblets, putting them in her arms.

'How do you do this?' she asked, frowning.

'What?' he asked with a goblet in his hand. 'It's _worthless_, there's _no_ reason to keep your mind in it, there's absolutely_ nothing_ we can do,' Remus wished he had been able to keep the layer of anger out of his tone; it was not her fault after all, but Peter's betrayal was just too much. He never thought he would actually want to kill someone until he found out that Wormtail was responsible for James and Lily's deaths and for Sirius's years in Azkaban.

He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth as an attempt to calm himself, but what really made him calmer was neither of them. It was a warmth, that light pressure against his fingers, the feeling of her hand on his. Tonks waited until he opened his eyes, followed his gaze that slowly went from their hands up to her brown orbs.

'We'll catch him,' she assured him. 'We'll catch that bastard,' Remus took a deep breath and nodded, blinking. 'I just don't know how, but we will,' She chuckled and the corner of his lips swirled. 'Now, come on, let's take these,' she grabbed more goblets and walked out of the pantry with Remus on her heels just in time to hear Molly's scream.

'Fred – George – NO, JUST CARRY THEM!'

The twins had bewitched the large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air towards Sirius, Harry and Mundungus who were at the table. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before and causing Dung to topple backwards off his chair.

'FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!' Molly shouted. 'THERE WAS NO NEED – I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS – JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!'

'We were just trying to save a bit of time!' Fred justified, hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table. 'Sorry, Sirius, mate – Didn't mean to –'

Harry and Sirius were laughing as Mundungus got to his feet, swearing and Crookshanks ran to under the dresser after giving an angry hiss, his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.

'Boys,' Arthur called, lifting up the stew. 'your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age –'

'None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!' Molly cut him off as she slammed a fresh flagon of Butterbeer on the table, spilling almost as much again. 'Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy –'

All the heads seemed to be watching Mrs Weasley look at her husband, frightened, but Mr Weasley's eyes were cold.

'Let's eat,' Bill said, quickly as Remus spread across the room towards the table.

'It looks wonderful, Molly,' he said with a smile, landing stew on to a plate for her and handing it across the table for she seemed to be feeling guilty for mentioning the name of her son that had become almost a taboo.

There was nothing but the sound of Remus serving stew on the plates for everyone. They all ate in that quiet environment until Molly, still feeling guilty, decided to break the silence.

'I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing-room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out.'

'Whatever you like,' Sirius answered, indifferently.

'The curtains in there are full of Doxys too,' she added to what Tonks frowned, she was aware about those Doxys for about a month and the Auror knew in that moment that she was only trying to restore the life that had filled that room ten minutes ago. 'I thought we might try and tackle them tomorrow,' she added and Tonks thought it was time for her to help, so she looked at the girls beside her and began morphing her nose between mouthfuls.

'I look forward to it,' Sirius answered with a bit of sarcasm, but not seeing the glare Remus had offered him.

Opposite Remus, Mr Weasley asked Bill. 'Any news on the goblins?'

'They're not giving anything away yet,' he answered. 'I still can't work out whether or not they believe he's back. Course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it.'

'I'm sure they'd never go to You-Know-Who,' Arthur replied, shaking his head. 'They've suffered losses too; remember that goblin family he murdered last time, somewhere near Nottingham?'

'I think it depends what they're offered,' Remus showed his opinion. 'And I'm not talking about gold. If they're offered the freedom we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?'

'He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment,' Bill answered, 'he hasn't stopped raging about the Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold from him, you know…'

Helped by Molly's delicious main dish and dessert, dinner went perfectly well now that the heavy environment was gone. It was nearly one in the morning, the lack of proper sleep and the several hours of extra work for the Order was beginning to tire them all when Mrs Weasley made the announcement.

'Nearly time for bed, I think,' she said with a yawn.

'Not just yet, Molly,' said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. 'You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort.'

That sentence was enough to not only cause a collective shudder, but to bring the heavy environment back. Tonks, who had been yawning not a second before, put herself together and looked at her cousin; Remus, who was just about to drink a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.

'I did!' Harry said, indignantly. 'I asked Ron and Hermione, but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so –'

'And they're right,' said Mrs Weasley. 'You're too young.'

'Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?' Sirius asked and it was clear for Remus and Tonks that he was challenging anyone to contradict him, almost checking if someone would dare say he did not have the right to inform his godson of what had been going on. 'Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen-'

'Hang on!' interrupted George, loudly.

'How come Harry gets his questions answered?' Fred asked, angrily.

'We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!' George complained.

''You're too young, you're not in the Order',' Fred said in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's and would have made everybody laugh if they were not so tense. 'Harry's not even of age!'

'It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing,' Sirius replied, calmly, 'that's your parents' decision. Harry on the other hand –'

'It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!' said Mrs Weasley, sharply and for the first time since Tonks and Remus met her, she was looking dangerous. 'You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?'

'Which bit?' Sirius asked with a fake courtesy.

'The bit about not telling Harry more than he _needs to know_.'

Sirius's challenging tone was not something to be overviewed. Tonks had never heard her big cousin talk like that and she had been staring at him, nearly seeing the frightening man that she grew up being told that was a mass-murderer, Remus looked at him, worried that he would explode and wishing that Sirius would simply look at him, so he could warn him without actually telling him to be careful.

'I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly, but as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back,' Sirius caused another collective shudder, 'he has more right than most to –'

'He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!' Molly cut him off. 'He's only fifteen and –'

'And he's dealt with as much as most in the Order,' said Sirius, 'and more than some.'

Tonks took in a deep breath as she folded her arms. Even though she had been a graduated Auror for a year now and had been in several missions since the beginning of her training, Harry had certainly done more than she did.

'No one's denying what he's done!' Mrs Weasley said, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. 'But he's still –'

'He's not a child!' Sirius said, losing the polite mask he had been wearing.

Remus straightened his eyes, Sirius was right there.

'He's not an adult either!' Molly replied, her cheeks blushing from anger. 'He's not James, Sirius!'

Remus shook his head almost imperceptibly and Tonks held her breath. Although it was clear for them that Sirius was sort of living his friendship with James through Harry, Molly had gone too far.

'I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly,' the tone in Sirius's voice was so cold that Tonks wished he never directed that look to her.

'I'm not sure you are!' Molly replied. 'Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!'

'What's wrong with that?' Harry asked and Remus felt a pain in his heart at the boy's clear wish to be like his parents.

'What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!' Molly answered promptly, but still not taking her gaze away from his godfather. 'You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!'

'Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?' demanded Sirius, his voice rising.

'Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and –'

'We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!' Sirius said, loudly, clearly not wanting to show his Achilles's heel on the argument.

'Arthur!' Molly called, finally looking away from Sirius. 'Arthur, back me up!'

Arthur took his time to think about the delicate situation. He lowered his gaze, took off his glasses slowly, cleaned them on his robes, replaced them carefully and finally looked at Molly.

'Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that he is staying at Headquarters.'

'Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!'

Sirius was far too concerned about the discussion, Remus knew he would not look at him unless he said something.

'Personally,' Remus said, quietly, surprising some of them, including Tonks, who just like Sirius was too concentrated on the arguement to pay attention to the others on their surroundings. Molly turned to him quickly, hoping she had finally gotten an ally. 'I think it better that Harry gets the facts – not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture – from us, rather than a garbled version from… others.'

Had Tonks not known about the Extendable Ears, she would have thought that he was insinuating, Harry would look for information on some sort of dark alley, but she acknowledged those words were directed for all the kids that were using the items and she could not help but to feel guilty. After all, she knew how Harry would get the information, but did not tell anyone, what would Mad-Eye say? However, Remus knew about them too and also had not alerted anyone. She smiled as a jolt of affection for him grew in her chest, Remus still had that mischievous side. _Once a Marauder, forever a Marauder, I guess_, she thought to herself, but the minute those words formed in her mind, they were taken away by their traitor, the reason to why the whole discussion had begun in the first place. And again that man had awakened in her the feeling that she needed to get him to set Sirius free.

'Well,' said Molly, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, 'well… I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart –'

'He's not your son,' Sirius reminded her, quietly.

'He's as good as,' Molly replied, fiercely. 'Who else has he got?'

'He's got me!' Sirius replied in a higher tone. He was the one James and Lily had chosen.

'Yes,' said Mrs Weasley, her lip curling, 'the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?'

This time Molly had crossed the line. Clenching her teeth, Tonks could feel her temperament growing in her and she did not care in the slightest. Sirius was an innocent man! He had not committed the crime to which he had been accused for all those years. Not even a trial he had been given back then. Molly was amazing, so motherly protective and kind, but the unfairness of her say had left the Auror panting in anger. She saw her cousin beginning to rise from his chair and was about to do the same to back him up when Remus felt that this was the sign that the whole room would burn into flames if someone ignited their wand.

'Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry,' He stated, sharply. Mrs Weasley had good intentions, but her arguements had made her wrong. _They_ were James and Lily's best friends after all. Had he not been a werewolf, he would have volunteered to take care of Harry, but Dumbledore had been extremely secure of his decision back then, Harry would live with his blood relatives and away from the magical world, Remus was not allowed to be a part of his childhood and neither would have been Sirius if he was not in prison. 'Sirius, sit down.'

Molly's bottom lip was trembling as Sirius slowly sank back into his chair with a white face.

'I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this,' Remus continued. After all, Harry was the only point both parts had in common. 'he's old enough to decide for himself,' there was something telling him that, not only Harry had inherited from his father more than his looks, but he had also inherited Lily's equity and that bit of him would be the one to come up.

'I want to know what's been going on,' Harry said at once before the opportunity was gone.

'Very well,' said Mrs Weasley, clearly defeated, 'Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George. I want you out of this kitchen, now.'

It was as though the kitchen had exploded a second later. The only one that was not complaining was Hermione that even though was keen to know as much as the others, did not think she had the right to put up a fight. She was not her daughter after all.

'We're of age!' Fred and George bellowed together.

'If Harry's allowed, why can't I?' shouted Ron.

'Mum, I want to hear!' wailed Ginny.

'NO!' shouted Mrs Weasley, standing up, trying to regain her power over them. 'I absolutely forbid –'

'Molly, you can't stop Fred and George,' Mr Weasley said, wearily, as if he had been holding it back the whole summer. 'They're of age.'

'They're still at school.'

'But they're legally adults right now,' Mr Weasley reminded her with the same tired tone, causing his wife's face to grow scarlet red.

'I – oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron –'

'Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!' Ron stroke back as though he had been waiting for this moment. 'Won't – won't you?' he added, uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes.

The boy took a second longer to answer than usual.

'Course I will,' he assured them to what Ron and Hermione beamed.

'Fine!' shouted Mrs Weasley. 'Fine! Ginny – BED!' she demanded before someone found a way for her daughter to stay and listen.

The youngest Weasley did not go quiet, however, she stormed at her mother the whole way until the bedroom she had been sharing with Hermione; not a care that she would awake Mrs Black, in fact that's exactly what she was aiming to. Tonks bit her lip suddenly relating to her and wishing there was something she could do for her, fighting the urge to stand up and tell everyone that she would tell Ginny everything if Mrs Weasley did not allow her to stay. Allowing her to hear some things here and there was one thing, but this, she had to admit it was too much. Remus was right earlier, she was too young. But just like Ginny was the youngest among the kids, she was the youngest in the Order, not that she had ever felt like they did not trust her abilities, specially because Mad-Eye would promptly prove them wrong, but she somehow felt as if she still had to prove herself. It was not until Remus came back that her thoughts were interrupted and she realised she would have gone help him if she was not so immerse in her own world.

'OK, Harry… What do you want to know?' Sirius questioned.

'Where's Voldemort?' he asked after taking a deep breath and ignoring the shudders. 'What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything…'

'That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet,' Sirius explained, 'not as far as we know, anyway… and we know quite a lot.'

'More than he thinks we do, anyway,' Remus added.

'How come he's stopped killing people?' Harry asked.

'Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself,' Sirius said, 'it would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up.'

'Or rather, you messed it up for him,' Remus smiled satisfied and a wave of proud came across him.

'How?' Harry asked, perplexed.

'You weren't supposed to survive!' Sirius explained. 'Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness.'

'And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore,' Lupin remembered. 'And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once.'

'How has that helped?' Harry questioned.

'Are you_ kidding_?' said Bill, incredulously. 'Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!'

'Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned,' Sirius said, remembering how soon after it, he and Remus were already alerting the old members.

'So, what's the Order been doing?' Harry asked, looking around to all the members left.

'Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans,' Sirius answered as simply as he could think of.

'How d'you know what his plans are?' Harry asked at once.

'Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea,' Remus answered, 'and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate.'

'So, what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?'

'Well, firstly, he wants to build his arm again,' Sirius affirmed. 'In the old days, he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of dark creatures,' it took all his self control not to look at Lupin and reveal his secret mission. 'You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after,' he had to refrain himself from looking at his best friend one more time. 'He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters.'

'So, you're trying to stop him getting more followers?'

'We're doing our best,' Remus assured him, recalling his own mission that had not been successful so far.

'How?'

'Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard,' Bill explained. 'It's proving tricky, though.'

'Why?'

'Because of the Ministry's attitude,' Tonks recalled what she had to deal with every day at work. 'You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position _at all_. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened.'

'But why?' Harry questioned, desperately. 'Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore –'

_Because he** is** stupid_, Tonks answered in her mind.

'Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem,' said Mr Weasley with a wry smile. 'Dumbledore.'

'Fudge is frightened of him, you see,' Tonks said, sadly. Everything would be so much easier if the Minister simply accepted that You-Know-Who was back.

'Frightened of Dumbledore?' Harry asked, incredulously.

'Frightened of what he's up to,' Mr Weasley explained. 'Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic.'

'But Dumbledore doesn't want –'

'Of course he doesn't,' said Mr Weasley. 'He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job.'

'Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is – a much more powerful wizard and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice,' Remus added. 'But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it.'

'How can he think that?' said Harry, angrily. 'How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up – that_ I_'d make it all up?'

'Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years,' Sirius answered, bitterly. 'Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself that Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him.'

'You see the problem,' Lupin spoke. 'Whislt the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, specially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware any things happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperious Curse.'

'But you're telling people, aren't you?' Harry said, looking around at the Order members.

They smiled humourlessly. If only it were _that_ simple.

'Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?' Sirius asked, restlessly.

Tonks clenched her teeth and closed her eyes. She really disliked this situation.

'And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,' Remus reminded him. 'It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.'

If Tonks had thought she did not like the situation, now she was sure she hated it. It pained her that there were not anything more tangible for them to do right now. Somehow, spending the night watching a bunch of balls seemed so silly and useless, even though she knew of their importance. Not only her cousin Sirius, but also Remus – _Hang on! He's just a friend, relax! It's not like –_ But her thoughts were cut off by her cousin saying her name.

'Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off, and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them.'

Tonks smiled. Spies. She had never thought of them as spies, more like they were… double agents and she had to bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

Whereas Tonks's mind had been running away from the concept of spy, Remus's had done the complete opposite. He had only now realised how dangerous her position in the Ministry was and that need to protect her came rushing again. He needed to talk to her, he needed to assure her that she needed to be careful. She was so young. He looked at her and saw Tonks biting her lip. That tiny bit of her bottom lip under her teeth that had gone white because of the lack of blood from the bite made him want to crash her lips with his. _My good Merlin! What are you thinking about? How much wine have you drunk? The war has left you vulnerable to the effects of the moon, that's what this is. Focus on what really matters!_, he told himself and smiled awkwardly at her before looking at Arthur.

'We've managed to convince a couple of people, though. Tonks here, for one – she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage – Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too; he's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet.'

Tonks smiled, proudly. She was an important Auror for the Order, a huge advantage. Of course Kingsley was more than she is, but well, maybe she did not really have to prove herself after all. Though, why did it have to be her? His own son, Charlie, was merely six months older than her.

'But if none of you are putting the news that Voldemort's back –' Harry began.

'Who said none of us are putting the news out?' Sirius questioned. 'Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?'

'What d'you mean?' Harry asked.

'They're trying to discredit him,' Remus began. 'Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot – that's the Wizard's High Court – and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class too.'

'But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frogs Cards,' said Bill, grinning and causing Tonks to smile, but they were vanished from their faces by Mr Weasley.

'It's no laughing matter,' he said, sharply. 'If he carries on defying the Ministry like this he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up. Whislt You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out of the way – Well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field.'

'But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eater's it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?' Harry asked, desperately.

'Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry,' Sirius explained. 'He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at the operating in secret. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on those for the moment.'

'What's he after apart from followers?' Harry asked, swiftly.

Remus looked at Sirius concerned and for a split second, he looked back at him. They were approaching a territory that Harry could not know of and they knew it, but Sirius insisted on informing the boy.

'Stuff he can only get by stealth,' seeing Harry's confused look, he continued, 'Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time.'

'When he was powerful before?'

'Yes.'

'Like what kind of weapon?' Harry questioned. 'Something worse than the Avada Kedrava –?'

'That's enough!' Molly interrupted him, looking furious. 'I want you in bed, now. All of you,' she added looking at her sons and Hermione.

'You can't boss us –' Fred began.

'Watch me,' snarled Mrs Weasley and the twin knew better than to argue with her. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. 'You've given Harry plenty of information. Anymore and you might just as well induct him into the Order straightaway.'

'Why not?' Harry asked, promptly. 'I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight.'

'No,' Remus stated, surprising them all again. 'The Order is compromised only by overage wizards,' the look he offered Harry gave no room for discussion. 'Wizards who have left school,' he added as Fred and George opened their mouths. 'There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you… I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough.'

Letting Harry know of what's been going on was completely plausible, but having him join? There was no way he would allow that. If once he had finished Hogwarts, he wanted to join the Order than that was fine, but with only four school years, he was not going to become a member.

Sirius half-shrugged, but did not say anything and slowly the kids went upstairs under Mrs Weasley's call. Yawning, Mundungus and Tonks followed her for it was a quarter past two in the morning. With the excuse of closing the magical locks, Remus went after them. It could not hurt to just tell her to be careful, right? They were friends after all and friends looked after each other.

Remus held the door open for them and for a moment they just gazed into each other's eyes, trying to say without words everything they could not during the last hour in the kitchen, however, Dung began to mutter something about a great deal with cauldrons and they smiled, shaking their heads at his incorrigible attitude.

'You better not let Molly hear you saying this, Dung,' she said, going down the steps and looked back at the door. 'See you next week, Remus. Good night,' she wished with a smile ignoring Mundungus's murmurs of agreement.

This was it, if he did not say it now, he simply would not. Remus took in a deep breath. But it wasn't really like that, was it? There would be plenty other opportunities for him to alert her, to let her know that he was worried, concerned about her. And so, before the silence became far too long he also smiled and said 'Good night, Tonks,' closing the door behind her.


	11. 10 Sleepless Nights

**A/N: **Hiiiii! So … life is going to be completely uncertain for at least the next six weeks, I'm not sure if I'll be able to post much during this time. My University came back from a strike this week and now we're off to finish the semester, but there's a threat that the teachers might go back to the strike so Idk. I'll try to write, but I wouldn't keep my hopes up.

Enough with my life, this chapter has another bit from the book, but it's really short. :) And I really love you all for the wonderful reviews you've left to me so, thanks, I appreciate them, but don't forget to share your thoughts in the box by the end of the page, please. Anyway, enjoy! \o/

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 10: Sleepless Nights<span>**

There it was again. The round silver globe was up in the sky and she was rolling on her bed, hugging the sheets she had put on her bed out of habit in a hot night. Maybe they would not make her feel so lonely, maybe having them in her arms would help supress her need to have somebody else in her embrace. Remus Lupin. All she wanted was to tell him that everything would be all right, that the pain would fade away. They were friends and there was nothing wrong in wanting a friend to be fine. Even though, she tried to force herself to be positive and remember that he would indeed be all right, it pained her that she could not take away from her mind the fact that he was far away from her. And struggling.

He was struggling to keep any part from his humanity, but once again he had to be proven wrong by the moon. He was no human. He had never really been. Remus had only flashbacks of how it was to be human for his human days were long gone, over thirty years ago. At least he had his sanity … or would he rather not to have it? All it would do was to make him remember how it was to turn into a beast, remember how painful it felt to have your bones broken, your muscles twisted, your skin morphed. He was no human, he was a monster.

She tried recalling the previous days, maybe she would finally be able to get him out of her mind. Yesterday … long day at the Office filling paperwork and then she went to the Diagon Alley in order to buy Ginny's birthday present. She met her friend, Rachel Wright, who worked at the Slug and Jiggers Apothecary and together they searched for the perfect gift, after buying it, they had a few drinks.

'He's really back, you know.'

'Dora, I'm not going to –'

'I'm not asking you to fight, Rach,' Tonks assured her. 'I'm asking you to be careful.'

Rachel nodded staring at her bottle and Tonks knew it would be the best she would get. That girl was probably the fairest of the Hufflepuffs, believing that there was a better way to solve her problems, Rach had avoided more fights than Tonks believed to be possible. With such unlike tempers, no one would say that they would become friends, but Rach was one of the few girl friends, Tonks had around. She needed her to be safe.

'So, I heard you got a promotion!' Tonks lifted up her bottle with a grin to which Rachel blushed.

'I – Yeah, well …'

And she went home late. Not the best of nights in the sleep matter, but she would get over it.

Two days ago, she spent the afternoon by the Headquarters. A smile came to her lips; back to her mind, he was. Remus had helped them fix an ancient clock that had thrown bolts on them all as they passed by it after they dealt with the craziest ghoul she had ever seen, how could you want to murder every living creature on Earth and stay in a bathroom for over a decade?

Monday, blank. Nothing had happened, not out of the ordinary at least. It seemed that Fudge was completely terrified about You-Know-Who's return and practically forbidden Aurors from doing something useful. Her work, that had been wonderful the past year, had become almost boring nowadays. But she knew that not even the Ministry of Magic could stop problems from appearing, sooner or later missions would come up. A normal day; almost as though it was compensating for the day before.

There she was, trying to dictate a report between laughter with her partner, Leon Savage when she received a memo from Kingsley asking her to urgently come down to the Hall of the Prophecy. She had ran to the room and he had led her on tiptoe until the ninety-seventh row. They had stood there for a long time only listening to each other's breathing, Tonks had begun to grow impatient and was about to tell him that she should head back when he whispered, in a volume so low she had not thought his deep voice was able to produce, 'Do you hear it?'

Tonks had closed her eyes, trying to perceive any sound apart from Kingsley's breathing and she heard it. An extremely low sound really similar to … steps? However, it was far away as if it had come from the door they had just entered.

She had ran down the corridor, illuminating the rows with her wand with Kingsley on her heels, looking everywhere for the smallest sign of movement. Thanks to some Auror missions together, the rapport between them was wonderful, they knew exactly where one would be looking and the other was already searching for the next spot, but they saw nothing until they had reached the door.

'_Accio invisibility cloak_!' But the only invisibility cloak that had come to Tonks's hands was the one Kingsley had been holding. 'Ah, we lost them!' she had complained annoyed, stuffing the cloak back into his arms.

'I'll need to report it to Dumbledore,' he had said catching his breath. 'He needs to know.'

They walked back to where he should be keeping guard. Not ten minutes had passed after Hestia Jones had appeared to take Kingsley's place and they were leaving the lift to the Atrium when they found their path blocked by one of their colleagues. One that had the most leonine face Tonks had ever seen, one with grey hair and beard, such a light brown in his eyes that were almost yellow and holding a pair of glasses in his hands. Rufus Scrimgeour.

'Well,' Scrimgeour had said as they stood before him with the most casual faces they had been able to put. 'May I know why you two are leaving the Ministry in such a hurry? We all know that haven't been many Auror missions lately.'

'Surely haven't,' Kingsley had said. 'But unless you count the Black case, to which I am responsible for, as a mission, we aren't leaving on one.'

'I was just seeing him off,' she had added. 'As I am sure you remember, Si – Black and I are second cousins, so I was letting him know of a few details I remembered from when I was a child. I'll be right back to the Auror Headquarters,' she did not dare to breathe, she had nearly called Sirius by his first name in front of him, what would he think? That she was still somehow attached to him? Yeah … Not the best of things. 'As I am sure you are too,' she had finished with a polite nod, sounding more confident than she truly was.

'I am certain you would like Black caught as soon as possible,' Kingsley had said. 'Just like all of us.'

Tonks had clenched her teeth to stop a smile from coming to her lips. Kinsley had been able to turn the game so finely that she was sure she would not have had the temperament to do as he did.

'Indeed,' Scrimgeour had said stepping to the side. 'I see no reason to stay on your way then.'

Kingsley had nodded and looked at Tonks for a brief moment before disapparating. She had not spared a look to Scrimgeour and had turned her back to him before re-entering the lift and going back to the level two.

That was a close one. She opened her eyes and checked her clock, half past five. If she had not slept until now, she would not, so, she might as well start her day. She did not know why he had asked them those questions, it may have been just paranoia, but maybe he was beginning to think that there would be something more.

* * *

><p>In his house's basement, Remus was adding new scars to his body. The first sunlight showed up on the horizon and the transformation's pain began to hit him. He needed to do something about it, even though he knew that there was absolutely nothing that would take the pain. Maybe if he tried to scratch it away … but werewolf's nails are not exactly kind and his skin is not as resistant as before, it is already becoming lighter and thinner. Although, he knew scratching would only make it worse later, he needed to easy out the pain at that very moment. However long it took for him to go back to his usual appearance, it was not easy, it would never be.<p>

Remus dressed himself, recalling everything that went through his mind. How he thought about that girl with colourful hair during the majority of the time, he knew the moon had the power to increase every feeling he had. He had her merely as a friend and yet, during his transformations it seemed … _something more_.

When she was not filling his mind, he had wondered if he was indeed doing his best about the mission Dumbledore trusted him with. What if unconsciously he had not been trying hard enough to find them? One thing he was sure about, he did not want to face Greyback. He fiercely closed his eyes as the sunlight hit him, allowing his eyes to get used to brightness before re-opening them and disapparating back to Headquarters, ready to finally get some rest. No, he was doing his best. He knew how important it was for the Order, for the whole war, he had been doing all he could.

And then, there was Harry, though he knew Dumbledore was more than capable of getting him out of this situation, he was worried about him. What if Fudge insisted on putting Harry in some sort of conditional situation, what if the boy had to spend a year being evaluated by someone from the Ministry? Neither of the options seemed pleasant, even though Harry had not done a single thing wrong, but they were all plausible.

* * *

><p>Tonks was about to sit on her chair after mumbling a 'Morning,' to Kingsley when Rufus entered the Auror Headquarters. <em>What was he doing here so early?<em>, she thought. Kingsley was only there, she knew, because he had just left a guard duty and probably had paperwork to deal with before heading home.

'Good morning,' Scrimgeour spoke trying to sound casual.

'Good morning, Scrimgeour,' Kingsley said politely.

'Morning,' Tonks replied trying not to show interest in him.

'Any particular reason the two of you are here at this early hour?'

'Paperwork,' they answered in unison and Tonks fought her muscles to keep a serious expression. Wasn't it obvious? He too probably had a lot of those to deal with, or maybe she thought that somehow he could have found a way to get rid of it by using his high position in there.

'Hm,' Scrimgeour slightly straightened his eyes, trying to maintain his control over the situation. 'Any news on the Black case? Any new … particular … _memory_?' he asked lowering his gaze to Tonks.

'Nope,' She answered. 'Haven't seen Shacklebolt since. The last thing I remembered, I told him yesterday, that Black hates dogs. He will never be around them, I'm sure of that,' she stated folding her arms over her chest.

Scrimgeour slowly put his glasses back on his nose.

'Make sure you get every detail, Shacklebolt.'

'Don't worry,' Kingsley assured him. 'I'll even ask Weasley for a report on flying muggle objects since he may be using his old motorcycle to escape us.'

He nodded trying not to seem impressed by his efficiency and limped toward his cubicle.

Tonks and Kingsley exchanged a long and meaningful look, but neither dared to say a word. Tonks grabbed the first envelope on her pile and checked the present date. August 11th, she had forgotten that it was this weekend her shifts watching the prophecy, which meant she would not be able to sleep for the next forty-eight hours.

'Brilliant.'

* * *

><p>Lunchtime finally arrived and hoping she would get the chance to have a great meal far from the Ministry, Tonks apparated at Headquarters and knocked on the door, immediately hearing Mrs Black and her son, yelling at each other.<p>

'Wotcher,' she smiled wide as he cousin opened the door for her. 'Where's Gi― What's wrong?' she asked seeing how fake the smile he offered back to her was.

'Nothing,' Sirius answered magically locking the door. ''M fine.'

'And I'm Celestina Warbeck,' she stated crossing her arms over her chest. Who was he trying to fool there?

As soon as he looked back at her, he knew there was no fighting; he had seen that look in her eyes in the mirror far too many times.

'Dumbledore won't let me go with Harry tomorrow.'

'Oh, take it easy, it's only a matter of time,' she said after exhaling heavily and trying to hide the pity in her eyes. 'He can't lock you here forever.'

'Easier said than done,' he stated walking away from her. 'Ginny's up at her room. Tell them to come down here, Molly's just finished lunch.'

Tonks sighed climbing the stairs. It would be over soon, Dumbledore could not possibly hope to keep Sirius in this house indefinitely; it was only a matter of time.

'Hey, birthday girl!' she greeted opening the door of the girls' room. 'Wotcher, Mione!'

'Hello, Tonks,' Hermione said with a smile.

'Tonks!' Ginny smiled coming to the door. 'What a surprise, didn't know you'd come today.'

'Well, I had to deliver a package,' Tonks winked pulling her into a hug. 'Happy Birthday!' she handed her the present.

'Tonks, you didn't have to,' Ginny started to unwrap it. 'I told Mum I didn't want a party or anything, I don't really like my own birthday.'

'I _know_, but I wanted to give you something anyway,' she shrugged smiling.

'Merlin! What's this?!' She walked towards her bed and placed the gift on it.

'A mini Quidditch pitch,' explained Tonks. 'With teams, balls, everything! You can enchant them and play Quidditch without having to leave the house,' She explained as Ginny admired one of the miniatures of the players. 'It's like wizard's chess, but less boring,' she scrunched her nose.

'Don't let Ronald hear you saying that,' Hermione advised with a smile.

'Thank you so, so much!' Ginny seemed unable to stop smiling.

'Don't mention it! Bet you like birthdays a bit more now, eh?' she chuckled. 'Really good to learn strategies – Now, come on, you two. Molly says lunch's ready.'

Mrs Weasley had prepared Ginny's favourites; perhaps it was the fact that she had had only a couple of toasts for breakfast and was starving by then, but Tonks had elected her new favourites among Molly's cooking. Sirius left the table as soon as he was done and it did not take long until she was left alone at the table with Ginny by Ron and Hermione bickering at each other for what seemed the third or fourth time.

As silence fell, her smile was taken away by Ginny's sudden question.

'Do you know Amelia Bones?' Worry was clear in her eyes. 'She'll be in Harry's audience tomorrow and I was just – you know … wondering …' Ginny sighed loudly.

'I do, yeah, she's the Head of my Department,' she answered. 'She's all right, she'll judge the facts and take the right decision. Nothing to worry about.'

'Great!' Ginny opened a wide grin.

'Careful there or I'll think you have a crush!' she chuckled.

'I have a boyfriend, Tonks!' Ginny protested. 'Though … I'll admit – I used to.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, you know, "The Boy Who Lived" I grew up hearing everyone talk about what he did and I couldn't help but to think that he was great and stuff, but it was childish crush, Hermione made me realise, it's over now. God, I can't believe I sent him that card on Valentine's Day …'

'You sent him a card!'

Ginny's cheeks went completely red.

'At Hogwarts. Lockhart brought these cupids to deliver cards and you know, the heat of the moment, sent one of them to sing to him,' she shook her head slightly. 'Oh god, terrible rhymes.'

Tonks laughed.

'And did Hermione ever sent a card to Ron or … the other way around?'

'Yeah – No, they're one of those couples that everybody knows but them, so …' she chuckled. 'Don't mention it to them, believe me! It's better this way.'

'All right, I won't,' she assured her. 'Is Remus around?' Tonks asked with a yawn after a moment, she had hoped she would see him during lunch, but for some reason, he did not show up.

'Haven't seen him all day,' Ginny answered, shaking her head. 'Not that we see him much, but he's usually back for lunch.'

'Yeah …' Tonks replied, her eyes fixed on the wall across the room as she chewed her bottom lip. It didn't mean something bad happened; maybe it was something good, something to do with his mission. It was the day after a full moon after all, he could be dealing with some werewolves right now. And that would be definitely a good thing. … Right?

'You two are spending a lot of time together,' Ginny stated looking at her with intrigued eyes. 'Anything there?'

'Oh, Gin, no!' she shook her head fiercely. 'He's a great guy, you know, kind, smart, gentle, polite,' _OK, enough with the qualitites_, she thought. 'but _no_! We're really just friends. Come on, do you honestly think we – that he and I –' Why was she panting? She was telling the truth. Not a tiny, small, little thing more than just friends.

Ginny looked at her as if she was thinking about what she had suggested and burst out laughing a while later.

'Merlin, no!' She said still laughing. 'You're right, you two have like – the Order in common, nothing else, completely opposites. Dunno what I was thinking, sorry.'

Tonks chuckled.

'S'all right.'

'He had a fan-club back at Hogwarts,' Ginny recalled.

'_No kidding_!' Tonks's eyes went wide in surprise.

'Yeah,' she smiled. 'Nothing like the one Lockhart had in the first year with every girl in the whole school, but he did,' she added nodding. 'Guess it was more because he was the first decent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in years. You know, he was always there to help, to listen and he actually taught us something. Helped us overcome our fears and you know …'

Tonks was twirling a tuft of her hair in her finger and smiling fondly at the sight of Remus in a classroom. There was something about that professorial him that simply got to her.

'I was beginning to think if every Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would have a fan-club when Moody showed up –' Ginny added causing both of them to burst out laughing again. 'Well, not exactly Moody – but you know – still _him_ and I realised that it was not going to happen. Though, maybe it was just a year,' she shrugged. 'Maybe this one, you never know,' Ginny smiled.

'Dumbledore's having some troubles there,' Tonks stated not entirely happy.

'Yeah, I know …'

'You do?' she asked, but comprehension crossed her face a moment later; the extendable ears were still in use. 'Oh yeah, right, I forgot,' Tonks yawned and stretched herself before checking her watch. 'Well, Gin, as much as I'd love to stay, I gotta go. Happy birthday again!' she smiled standing up and knocking over the chair behind her.

'Yeah, thanks for the present again.'

'Sure!' Tonks said after putting the chair back up and left.

* * *

><p>Sunset found Tonks leaving the warmth of the Auror Headquarters toward the coldness that was the Hall of the Prophecy. She waited until the lift was empty to choose a different look for herself, blonde hair sounded nice, she had always liked blonde the most, maybe she should add some curls for a change.<p>

'What's your Patronus?' Slowly her gaze went from the wand pointed to her chest to her mentor at the other end of it.

'A Siberian Husky. How many times have you asked me that, Mad-Eye?'

He turned his back to her and she followed him.

'Shut up,' he growled.

'One of these days someone will found out what my Patronus is and not even you will realise I'm not me. _Lumos_!'

'Shut up, Tonks.'

'I mean, I could be a Death Eater right now and you wouldn't know! Where's your constant vigilance, huh?'

'A Death Eater would have shut their mouth by now!' he growled as they arrived at the ninety-seventh row.

Tonks rolled her eyes with a sigh.

'Don't you roll your eyes on me, young lady!'

'Hey, did Kingsley tell you that we heard steps here the other day?' she asked sliding down the shelf and sitting on the floor.

'That's why I've been trying to tell you to shut up the whole way!'

'Oh,' she spun her wand in her hand creating an interesting effect of light. 'Why didn't you just say it then?'

As if it were possible, Tonks thought she saw Mad-Eye's features twist in a frown.

'But come on! What will they do? They can't catch the prophecy also it's_ two_ of us here and you know what? I'm hungry,' she announced. 'I forgot to bring something to eat.'

Mad-Eye exhaled heavily.

'You stay here,' he growled. 'I'll patrol the room.'

'Where else would I go?' she asked, but he left her hearing nothing but the metal sound of his leg hitting the marble floor. This would be one long night.

* * *

><p>Remus Lupin woke up and checked the clock on his nightstand. Half past seven. He closed his eyes and sighed. It was getting harder and harder. The time when he was able to transform back, stop by the Hospital Wing for some bandages and go straight to a classroom was long gone. He got up feeling his whole body ache and got into the bathroom for a shower. He cleaned his wounds, patching them before getting dressed and heading downstairs. In the kitchen, Molly had just enchanted the dishes to wash themselves as Arthur read any part from the <em>Daily Prophet<em> that did not say something bad about Harry or Dumbledore and Sirius smashed what used to be a potato.

'Evening.'

'Remus,' Arthur looked at him above the paper with a smile.

'Hey,' Sirius did not even lift up his gaze to meet him.

'Remus, dear,' Molly smiled walking to him as he took his seat. 'How are you?'

'Getting better,' he answered and Sirius finally looked at him.

'You must be hungry, do you want me to warm dinner up for you?'

'If you please,' he tried to smile back.

'Sorry, mate, I forgot,' Sirius dropped his fork and placed his elbows on the table. 'You really all right?'

'As fine as I could be, Sirius,' Remus smiled. 'What's got into you?'

Sirius scoffed as he leant back on his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

'Dumbledore,' he put as much dislike on the headmaster's name as he possibly could, 'thinks I shouldn't go with Harry.'

'Oh, it's probably better this way – Thank you, Molly,' he added as the witch placed some chops for him and left the kitchen, followed by her husband. 'It's the Ministry after all, someone could grow suspicious,' he explained before started eating.

'_Suspicious_, Moony!' he said almost shouting. 'Nobody knows I'm an Animagus there!'

Remus took his time to swallow before replying.

'You know it's not entirely true, Sirius, they _have_ people infiltrated.'

Sirius looked him right in the eyes and clenched his teeth. Impressive how things were not the same anymore. The Moony he knew would have loved to take some risk, specially for this reason. This was not some random boy they found on the streets. This was James's son! The boy who lost it all, picked up the pieces and was about to lose it all once again. Maybe it was a big risk, but it would have been worth it.

'You have changed,' he stated, leaving Remus to hear him slamming his bedroom's door, triggering his mother's portrait to start shouting.

'Did you expect me not to?' he said lowly to the empty kitchen before going to close the painting's curtains.

Remus finished his dinner and waved his wand so the dishes would wash themselves. He leant against the counter and sighed, he should not have allowed himself to sleep until this late hour, it was nearly bedtime and he had just woken up. He went to his bedroom and brushed his teeth. He would have to wait the sleepiness to come. He grabbed a book and sat under the blanket on his bed. For some unknown reason, it never came, not as it was supposed to, at least. He was able to sleep a couple of hours if that much, so he went back to his book at three in the morning.

He closed the book, shaking his head and slid his legs out of the bed. _I'm getting too old for this_, he thought as he saw the clock showing it was five o'clock. He knew Arthur would be the one to take Harry to the Ministry and they should be waking up any minute now. Still fully dressed from the night before, he decided to get breakfast started in the kitchen that he thought would be as empty as he left the night before, but he was wrong.

All he was able to see was a blonde girl laying her head on the table over her arms. There was nothing in her that could give it away to him that it was her and yet he knew. His heartbeat increased as he stared at her. A regular blue T-shirt was everything he could see from her clothes; any girl could be wearing it. For all he knew, it could be a new girl from the Order, but that same voice on the back of his mind reminded him that Dumbledore had not said anything about new recruits. He had to be imagining it. No. It was her. But how did he know?

He could not stay all day watching her. _Are you sure?_, he asked himself, but shook his head and stepped inside, she did not move, so he sat on the chair beside her. Could he touch her? As if they had a will of their own, his eyes scanned her whole silhouette and he swallowed hard. Her clothes still let quite a lot to imagination, but … she was so beautiful.

Remus clenched his teeth and forced his eyes to go back to the perfect curls of that almost golden shade of yellow. He was going to touch it. Slowly he put his fingers between those soft hairs and caressed her head. 'Morning,' he murmured smiling.

Tonks's eyes opened at once. _My dear Merlin it's him! This voice is so – What were you thinking? Sleeping on the table! What is he going to think of you! Couldn't you at least look more presentable? Pathetic!_ She raised her head as fast as she could and smiled wide, but it did not last.

Remus grunted holding his hand that had been in her hair two seconds ago. She had raised her head far too fast, throwing his hand on the back of her chair and by the way she put a hand on her head, she had become somewhat dizzy. Tonks shook the dizziness away and grabbed his hand.

'Oh my god, Remus, I'm so sorry!' she apologised lowly examining his hand and pressing it softly with her fingers. 'Lemme see – Where does it hurt? Merlin, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry –'

'Tonks.'

'I just wasn't expecting to see you here – not that this isn't a good surprise, but – I'm sorry. I'm so clumsy, I didn't mean to –'

'Tonks,' he called again, placing his hand on top of hers. 'I'm fine.'

'I –' Slowly her gaze went from their hands to his eyes. 'You sure?' she asked biting her lower lip.

'Yes, I'm sure,' he smiled. 'Look!' Reluctantly, he took his hand from hers, still feeling the warmth of her skin on his and closed his fingers twice. 'You didn't manage to break it,' he mocked with a grin.

'Yeah, still I-I'm sorry,' she said twirling her hands on her lap nervously.

'It's all right.'

'I'm just tired,' she placed her elbows on the table and rubbed her eyes. 'I spent the whole night with Mad-Eye at the Ministry and I said I'd come leave the report and you know what? Before that Scrimgeour came to – Do you know who he is?'

'I've heard of him,' he answered glad that she was not looking at him to see how fondly he was grinning at the mere sight of her.

'Yeah, he's an Auror too and he was –' she stopped herself when Sirius opened the door, frowning at them.

'What are you two doing here?'

'I live here,' Remus answered with a grin.

'It's great to see you too, cuz!' Tonks replied bowing her head.

'Yeah, yeah, whatever.'

Sirius had just sat down when the door opened again, revealing a giggling Molly and her husband that seemed to have been tickling her the second before. Mrs Weasley's face became completely red and she lowered her gaze to her purple dressing gown, walking toward the sink and murmuring a 'Good Morning,' as Arthur replaced his glasses on his nose. Sirius folded his arms gazing at Molly, almost as though he was proud to have arrived there before them, even if it was a single minute earlier.

'Good morning, everyone! Ready for the great day!' Mr Weasley said, putting in his pocket what Tonks perceived to be some Muggle money and she yawned as he fussed with his bomber jacket before taking a seat.

'When do you want _me_ to go wake up Harry, Arthur?' Sirius asked still glaring at Molly and not letting room for discussion.

'Oh,' he said as his wife took a seat beside him. 'I'm not sure … Need to be there at eight, but we don't really know how long it will take to get there the Muggle way. And it's better for Harry to get there early, so –'

But in that moment, the door opened again, revealing a fully dressed Harry. They all looked at the boy, but Molly, who leapt to her feet.

'Breakfast,' she said, pulling her wand and hurrying over to the fire.

'I m-m-morning, Harry,' Tonks yawned. 'Sleep all right?'

'Yeah,' Harry replied still standing on the doorway.

'I've b-b-been up all night,' she yawned again. Nobody needed to know that in fact, she had been up for the last two nights. 'Come and sit down,' she said, trying to ease out the boy's obvious tension. She pushed the chair beside hers, but ended up knocking over the one beside it in the process. Typical.

'What do you want, Harry?' Molly questioned. 'Porridge? Muffins? Kippers? Bacon and eggs? Toast?'

Breakfast, right. That was the reason Remus had come down to the kitchen in the first place, back when there was only the two of them in the room. He could have watched her sleep forever or talk if that's what she preferred, what was she saying back then? He finally turned his gaze from Harry to her.

'What were you saying about Scrimgeour?'

'Oh …' Was he really paying attention to what she was saying? For a moment she felt she was just foolishly rambling and he had his mind somewhere else. 'Yeah … Well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kingsley and me funny questions like the other day he just stood before us and asked if we were going on a mission together,' she looked at him with disbelief in her eyes. 'Just 'cause we were in the Atrium, so I reminded him that I'm Sirius's second cousin and I was helping Kingsley in the case. Oh god! I almost said your first name to him. Imagine that!' she ran a hand through her hair looking at Sirius.

'Also this morning – No, I mean, yesterday. Sorry, too many hours without sleep, I'm a bit confused. So, it was just me and Kings at the Office and he asked what we were doing there, I mean, OK, it was before six in the morning, but hell, we work there, so we just answered 'paperwork' and he asked about news on the Black case and we said that there was nothing since he had asked the last time, but there was something about his tone, I don't know. Kingsley and I didn't say a word to each other until I left for my shift and I'll have to tell Dumbledore I can't do night duty tomorrow, I'm just too tired,' Tonks finished with a yawn.

'I'll cover for you,' offered Mr Weasley. 'I'm OK, I've got a report to finish anyway,' he added before turning to Harry. 'How are you feeling?' the boy shrugged in response. 'It'll all be over soon. In a few hours time you'll be cleared.'

Harry's gaze kept locked on his toast with marmalade.

'The hearing's on my floor, in Amelia Bones' office. She's Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and the one who'll be questioning you.'

'Amelia Bones is OK, Harry,' Tonks said in a serious tone. 'She's fair, she'll hear you out.'

Harry nodded.

'Don't lose your temper,' Sirius said abruptly surprising everyone for he had stood quiet since the boy entered the room. 'Be polite and stick to the facts.'

Harry nodded again.

'The law is on your side,' Remus added in a low tone. 'Even underage wizards are allowed to use magic in life-threatening situations.'

Molly, who had been trying to fix Harry's appearance all along was now trying to comb his hair.

'Doesn't it ever lie flat?' she asked desperately.

Harry shook his head and Remus smiled, not even at his wedding James's hair was in order. This was a lost battle. Arthur checked his watch and looked up at Harry.

'I think we'll go now. We're a bit early but I think you'll be better off at the Ministry than hanging around here.'

'OK,' Harry dropped his toast and stood up, obviously nervous.

'You'll be all right, Harry,' Tonks patted him on the arm.

'Good luck,' said Lupin. 'I'm sure it will be fine.'

'And if it's not,' Sirius said grimly. 'I'll see to Amelia Bones for you …'

Even though Harry smiled weakly at the lot of encouraging smiles, Remus and Tonks wondered if Sirius was really joking whilst Molly hugged Harry.

'We've all got our fingers crossed.'

'Right,' said Harry. 'Well … see you later then,' and he followed Mr Weasley up to the hall and out the door.

Molly sighed loudly before starting to cook breakfast for all of them. Half an hour later, they had all eaten and she left the kitchen. Tonks yawned before letting out a sound between a cry and a moan as she placed her forehead on Remus's shoulder.

'Tell me I don't have to go back to the Ministry, Remus,' she cried.

'Oh, hm,' he looked down at her. At that moment she reminded him so much of the little child he used to babysit and he felt disgusted with himself. How could he have allowed those thoughts to fill his mind when there were only the two of them in the kitchen? She was just a child, a child allowed to fight. She was Sirius's little cousin, she was Andy and Ted's little girl! How could he? 'Do you have a day off today?' he asked trying to sound casual.

Tonks raised her head and straightened her eyes looking at him as she slightly shook her head.

'I don― Lemme teach you, Remus,' she began. 'This is when you lie. You lie. You put a smile in your face and say "You don't have to go to the Ministry, Tonks," with the most innocent tone you're able to put on.'

_All right, maybe a child that has something to teach you_, Remus thought as Sirius barked out laughing.

'You look me in the eye and say I'm welcome to sleep for five days straight in one of the many bedrooms of my cousin's house,' she raised her brows. 'Got it?' she asked grinning and he nodded as the sound of Sirius's laughter finally decreased. 'Great, then try again, pretend I've just spoke,' She placed her head on his shoulder again.

'Well, hm.' He raised his hand up to his mouth and cleared his throat. 'You don't have to go to the Ministry, Tonks,' he said earnestly. 'You can sleep for five days straight in my bed.'

Sirius's barking laughter filled the room once again even louder as their cheeks reddened.

Would it be rude for her to say no? She knew that was probably the answer she was supposed to give, but what if he became upset because she said no? More importantly, did she _want_ to say no? It did not matter, she indeed had to go to work.

He had to screw it up, hadn't he? Was it so difficult to repeat two simple sentences? She was just a kid and he was – he was – disgusting! He knew he should apologise, she did not need to answer it. It had been one stupid mistake; it was obvious she would say no, _anyone_ in their right mind would say no. But he could not apologise, all he could do was to pathetically stare at her.

'I – I mean, I –'

'Tempting offer, Remus,' she said getting up. 'Even though I still got some time, I don't have a day off, as you reminded me. So, I'll see you two later,' and she left the kitchen.

Remus grabbed a serviette on the table and threw it on Sirius.

'It's not funny, Sirius.'

'Oh, it is, Moony,' he tried to regain control over his breathing. 'Wish you could've seen your face,' he added wiping a tear.

Remus rolled his eyes and left the kitchen. Slowly he went back to his room. They were having a perfect morning, why could not he have just said it right? The more he thought about it, the more disgusted he felt with himself. She was just a baby and he was looking at her like she was- She could never think of him that way and even if she ever did, she would never deserve someone like him. He did not even feel anything more about her, why was he so worried anyway?

He opened the door and was surprised by the fact that his bed was not empty like he was sure it would be; those perfect golden locks were on his pillow, Nymphadora Tonks was on his bed.

Tonks opened one eye and rolled on the bed laughing. It did not matter that she had not been able to keep on going with what she had planned, his face was priceless. Of course it might have been better to see his reaction if she was able to actually say that those five days on his bed would not be pleasant if he was not on it too, but she was satisfied with the income.

'Sorry, I just had to,' she chuckled standing up. 'Your face really is priceless,' she added passing by him on the doorway. 'See you around, Moony!'

'See you …' Remus watched as she walked down the corridor and shook his head. She was so young and had this power over him that made him lose himself. How could she get to him like that?

Tonks could not take the smile from her face the whole day. The situation she ended up putting herself into was not an easy one to get out and a joke was the only healthy way she saw, of course the prank came later, but it had only helped on letting things still on the "happy friendship" position and not on the "awkward colleagues" one. She could not help herself, not around him. There was something about Remus, it was so easy to take him out of his comfort zone and she had loved the feeling of teasing him, provoking him had given her a sensation she had not experienced in a while.

Remus too spent the whole day thinking about what had happened in that morning, but as the hours passed, alone, in the forest, it only made him realise how much of a great friend she was. He had put her in an awful situation and all she did was to pull a prank on him and take it the best way she could. Tempting offer, she had said. Had she meant it? No, of course not. How could he even think that? It was part of the joke, of course, it was all part of the joke.

Although, none of them would admit out loud that they had been fiercely sending away the image of being in bed with the other, it was one of those feelings that remained in their subconscious until they went to bed, the kind of thing that made them dream about it. It does not really matter that they were disturbed when they woke up and also feeling guilty and uncomfortable about having such dreams, especially about the other one because even though the night had everything but sleep in the dream, they woke up feeling as though they had had the best sleep they could possibly have had. However, one good thing had come out of it all, their confidence that despite that voice in the back of their minds, the two of them were definitely better as friends … weren't they?


	12. 11 Under the Same Roof

**CHAPTER 11: Under The Same Roof**

Dumbledore's search for the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor turned out to be as hard as Lupin's quest for the British werewolf pack, but worse for the headmaster had a limited amount of time. It would not take long for Hogwarts' term to begin and he had not found someone to take Moody's place. Not even Moody himself would take the position, he had said the Order of the Phoenix needed him more now than the Hogwarts School did. Dumbledore had understood, but the time was becoming short. As a consequence, the Order's meetings were practically all cancelled during August, members would stop by the Grimmauld Place only to leave a report or a message, all the topics that needed to be discussed by them were delayed, except for one that had to be carefully arranged before the beginning of the term: how they would transport Harry Potter from the Headquarters to the King's Cross Station.

"Mad-Eye reckons we ought to have _ten_ of us with Harry," said Tonks, who had just arrived from the Ministry where they had been standing guard, "but personally, I think four are enough."

"Four?" Dumbledore asked. "How do you propose we share these four members among the students?"

"Two of us, instead of three like Mad-Eye wanted, to each three of them," she explained. "He wants to be responsible for the luggage with someone else, you know, between the two groups, but we could push the trolley, not sure if we need two people _just_ to do that."

"But another person to take care of the luggage isn't a bad idea," Kingsley suggested.

"Harry should have two members with him," Sturgis pointed out. "and preferably alone."

"Another person to help in case something unfortunate happens," remarked Remus.

"We shall vote then," the headmaster announced.

As the members one by one stated their preferences, Dumbledore would write them in the air, but none of them expressed a wish to have ten as Mad-Eye did. In the end, six had won and Tonks understood, it would really be someone else to help in case something happened. They discussed their preferences to how the members should be divided and eventually, they had decided to have Harry with two members, one with the luggage, another member with Ron and Hermione and another two at the end with Ginny and the twins.

"Fantastic then," the headmaster said, joyfully. "We will have five members escorting three groups of students and another taking care of their belongings. You said Alastor wishes to be the one that will assume said position, is that correct?"

Tonks nodded.

"Therefore, he will assume the post," he stated. "We still need five more voluntaries."

After two months, the Order seemed to be functioning in a perfect harmony, leaving the tasks that involved the kids to the ones that were more intimate of them, guard duties to the Ministry workers mainly for they did not have enough of them to watch the prophecy all the time and so on.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," Dumbledore said as Sirius's hand went up. "But I still don't think it is wise for you to leave the house and accompany the kids. So, if you could please stay here, we will have Molly, Arthur, Nymphadora, Remus and Kingsley with them, if there isn't a problem of course."

"In fact, headmaster," Kingsley began. "I won't be available, unfortunately, I have to write down some paperwork for the Black case," he winked at Sirius. "If it's not too much of a problem, that is."

"Anyone?" Dumbledore asked looking around the table. "Sturgis! Perfect!" A twinkle in his eye as he said "I trust you all will do an excellent job on transferring Harry from here to the Station. Now, do any of you wish to speak about an urgent matter?"

He smiled as no one added anything.

"I now, end the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix," the headmaster announced taking a few rolls of parchment in his hands and heading to the door.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner, Albus?" Molly offered.

"As much as I've heard that your food is marvellous, Molly," he smiled. "Unfortunately, I have some rather serious business to deal with and I'm afraid I am running out of time."

"Of course, of course," she agreed. "Do as you must," she smiled and headed to the cooker.

* * *

><p>Tonks had her feet on her table and the whole Auror Headquarters had been in a better mood than she had ever seen. Weeks without any proper mission had only one good side, no paperwork to deal with. Save two or three of them that still had a pile of parchment on their desks, they had been chatting and laughing the whole morning, until <em>he<em> showed up. She had never seen him there, the Minister of Magic usually sent one of his people to deal with them, like the ones that were beside him now, a tall, red-headed bloke that seemed slightly familiar to Tonks, but she could not exactly place him and a squat, short woman, with curly mouse-brown hair, Dolores Umbridge, his senior secretary.

The moment he stepped in, they composed themselves, properly sitting on their chairs.

"It has come to my attention," Fudge began. "that you all are having some extra free time lately."

_Mainly because of you_, Tonks thought as the Aurors stood before him, some nodded, but none of them made a sound.

"And some of your reports have arrived to my desk and I must say they were rubbish!"

Tonks's mouth fell open, how dare he come to _their_ Headquarters with the only purpose of criticizing their job? Was he the one on a mission? Was he the one trying to write how the fight went? Was he the one who knew what had really happened? She folded her arms and their colleagues moved in their seats, clearly uncomfortable. The smile on the Minister's secretary's face ignited a flame of hate inside of her, but she clenched her teeth trying to regain some control and not have her hair changing colours.

"But these reports having been done the same way for decades," Savage voiced their thoughts.

"Perhaps that's exactly the problem, Auror…" he said rather angrily.

"Savage, sir," he answered through clenched teeth.

"Savage," the Minister stated gazing at him and then, looking at them all, he added, "Therefore, you all will do well to re-do everything since the beginning of the year."

The next moment, it was as though the Auror Headquarters had been hit by a Bombarda Charm.

"Everything?" Tonks nearly shouted.

"Why?"

"It's a waste of time!"

"Are you really going to read them all, Minister?" Proudfoot's voice came above the murmur.

"If I will or will not read all of them, it is not of your concern," Fudge stated. "The Ministry needs in its records, reports that are extremely detailed. I would understand your complaint if you didn't have some extra free time however, this free time does exist and you all might as well do something useful with it."

He waved his wand a ten inch pile of paperwork showed up on Tonks's desk, she looked around and was for the first time happy to be the youngest Auror in the Office and not have the most complicated missions in her hands. Some of her colleagues had almost three times what she had.

"These are half of it," he announced. "Once you are finished with it, you can have the other half," he left the Auror Headquarters without another word and as soon his robes disappeared, a loud clamour of angrier complaints sounded.

"He's _got _to be kidding!" Tonks grunted.

"I'm going to be doing this forever!"

"He can't force us to do these!"

"Who does he think he is?"

"He _is_ the Minister of Magic," Robbards reminded them, trying to make himself to be listened. "And he ―"

However he broke off for there was an extremely annoying sound.

"Hem, hem."

The silence was instantaneous; they looked back to the door and could barely believe on what their eyes were spotting.

"I'm sorry," Umbridge said with a fake smile on her face. "But it was though you had any other complaint to add to the Minister."

A moment of silence passed without a sound until Kingsley broke the silence.

"Not at all, _Dolores_."

She let out a disturbing chuckle and left.

"Come on, guys, the Minister really needs those to the records…" Dawlish began, but Tonks cut him off.

"Shut up, Dawlish!"

A memo came to her desk and she unfolded it.

"Merlin, I'm gonna need some drinks to get through this. Are you up?" Savage asked.

_Dear Tonks,  
><em>_We're going to have a small party tonight, Ron and Hermione have been chosen to be Gryffindor's prefects this year.  
><em>_A. Weasley_

"Sorry," she raised the memo in her hand. "I've got plans," she grinned and morphed her hair to scarlet red, letting it grow until her waist. If it were a Gryffindor celebration, then she should join the party the best way she could.

"You got a date?" he asked with wide eyes. "Let me see," he stepped forward to get the memo from her hand, but she put it in her pocket.

"No, you arse!" she exclaimed. "Girl's night."

"_You_ having a girl's night?" He laughed.

"All right, all right," she rolled her eyes. "Mum's making my favourites. Happy?" she added, feeling guilty to lie to the one who had had her life on his hands more than once.

"Yeah," Savage grinned.

* * *

><p>A week later and Remus still did not have any lead on where the pack was and as much as he did not want them to, his hopes were beginning to considerably decrease. Any bigger footprint would send a bolt of hope through him, but only to be dismissed by the discovery of it belonging to a regular bear or some bigger wolf. Though he knew that they were indeed somewhere, he was starting to think that he might start looking in different places for any lead on where they were right now. The rumours about werewolves living in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts were no secret for decades and even though the Marauders searched for them for years without <em>any<em> luck, he was growing out of hope to find the lycans somewhere else and for someone that had nothing; rumours that were at least fifty years old, were something. Deciding that he would start searching for them there; he disapparated to Headquarters a bit earlier and was surprised by the fact that it was a bit more crowded than usual.

Remus entered the kitchen and spotted Molly hanging a scarlet banner above the table that read:

CONGRATULATIONS  
>RON AND HERMIONE<br>NEW PREFECTS

"Where do you want me to put these, Molly?" asked Tonks carrying a couple of heavy bags with books. "Oh ― Wotcher, Remus!" she smiled wide. "Didn't hear you arrive."

"I just came in," he returned her smile.

"Just give 'em here," Molly grabbed Ron's broom and took the bags from Tonks's arms. "I'll leave them upstairs."

Lupin walked to the table and grabbed a couple of butterbeers, offering one of them with a kind smile to the redheaded behind him before sitting on a chair, releasing a long, tired sigh.

"Tough day?" Tonks asked, taking a sip of the drink.

"The usual," Remus shrugged. "I remain unable to locate the pack."

"Ah, it's a matter of time," she said, placing her elbows on the table. "Pretty sure soon enough you'll be nagging about them."

"I wouldn't nag," Remus replied.

"Now, now, Remus," Sirius entered the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of butterbeeer before throwing himself on the chair in front of them. "You know you shouldn't lie."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, don't you recall?" Sirius asked, properly sitting on his chair and clearing his throat before speaking with high voice. "Buckbeak's been squawking again, when was the last time you fed him? You shouldn't transfigure your shoes into bunnies to watch them mate, Sirius. Don't yell at Kreacher, he's done nothing wrong! And on and on and on..." he finished with his usual tone and a wink to his cousin, who even though had bit her lip to stop a laugh, was unable to do so.

"Those were perfectly reasonable concerns!" Remus replied with a slight frown.

Tonks raised her hand, trying to stop her laughter.

"Pardon me then, Remus," she said. "You would... _expose_ your perfectly reasonable concerns. You would not nag," Tonks winked at a laughing Sirius before she re-started laughing, even Kingsley, who had been reading a couple rolls of parchment on the corner, joined them.

"I thought we'd have a little party, not a sit-down dinner," Molly entered the room closely followed by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny. "Your father and Bill are on their way, Ron. I've sent them both owls and they're thrilled," she added, beaming.

Fred rolled his eyes as a familiar metallic sound filled the house. Mad-Eye barely had time to see Tonks's grin to him and the other's smiles and waves before Molly walked toward him.

"Oh, Alastor, I am glad you're here," said Mrs. Weasley, brightly as Moody shrugged off his travelling cloak. "We've been wanting to ask you for ages ― could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing-room and tell us what's inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty."

"No problem, Molly..." Moody's electric-blue eye swivelled upwards and stared fixedly through the ceiling of the kitchen. "Drawing-room..." he said as his pupil contracted. "Desk in the corner? Yeah, I see it... Yeah, it's a Boggart... Want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly?" he offered himself, aware of the fact that he'd be a better opponent for the creature than Molly would be.

"No, no, I'll do it myself later," beamed Mrs. Weasley. "You have your drink, we're having a little bit of a celebration, actually..."

"Also, Tonks," Sirius said. "Did you see who won't be playing at the beginning of the season for the Magpies?"

Tonks's eyes grew wide. Now that her cousin did not have anything else to do, he had become her number one source of her quidditch team.

"Not Campbell, please, _tell _me it's not Campbell," she cried.

Sirius chuckled.

"Campbell," he nodded. "Not Lennox, though, Angus."

Tonks rolled her eyes.

"We can survive without Angus," she took a sip of her butterbeer. "Lewis will take his place and we're fine, but if Lennox couldn't play..." Tonks sighed. "How long is he going to be out?" She asked, but Sirius did not have time to answer for in that moment Arthur, Bill and Dung entered the Headquarters.

"Well, I think a toast is in order," said Mr. Weasley when everyone had a drink and raised his goblet. "To Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor prefects!"

As both of them beamed, Tonks recalled the day she knew she was not going to be the Hufflepuff prefect, she had no problem with it, her mother was the one that revealed to be saddened by that fact.

"I was never a prefect myself," said Tonks brightly as everybody moved towards the table to help themselves with the food. "My Head of House said I lacked certain necessary qualities."

"Like what?" Ginny asked, curiously and Tonks wondered if the girl was worried she was not going to become a prefect the following year, after all, nearly all her brothers had been prefects.

"Like the ability to behave myself," Tonks answered with the most serious face she was able to put up, but smiled as Ginny laughed and Hermione looked at her as though she did not know whether to smile or not and compromised by taking an extra-large gulp of Butterbeer and choking on it.

"What about you, Sirius?" Ginny asked, thumping Hermione on the back.

Sirius let out his usual bark-like laugh.

"No one would have made me a prefect," he answered beside Harry. "I spent too much time in detention with James. Lupin was the good boy, he got the badge."

"I think Dumbledore might have hoped I would be able to exercise some control over my best friends," said Lupin. "I need scarcely say that I failed dismally."

Tonks laughed, looking fondly at him as Remus mirrored the smile he saw on the lips of the ones around them.

"Someone's got a new broom," Tonks winked at Ron and his eyes grew wide with proud.

"'Eah! Id ou no dat i as e 'est 'ost 'ene ―" he said with a mouthful, but seeing the puzzled look Tonks was giving him, Ron swallowed before re-starting. "Did you know that it has the best cost benefit of all? It's _amazing_! Really fast, nought to seventy in ten seconds, not bad, is it? When you think the Comet Two Ninety's only nought to sixty and that's with a decent tailwind according to Which Broomstick?"

"No kidding! What about the cushioning charm?" Tonks asked.

"Hm, haven't tested yet," he said. "Mum wouldn't let me even open it! But I couldn't resist, I mean, come on! Did she _really_ want me to just wait and open it after everyone was gone? Who in their right mind would be able to do that?"

"Not me!" Tonks chuckled.

Across the table, Hermione had decided to try and get some support on her fight for the house-elves' rights with someone that knew what it meant to be excluded by society.

"I ― I've been thinking, professor," she started.

Remus offered her a kind smile to indicate her to go on as he wondered when the kids would stop calling him by the title he no longer had.

"It's been a while now," she recalled, "but don't you think that the wizard community should end the current way house-elves are treated? Just because they're not human, they think they can ― I mean, it's the same kind of nonsense as werewolf segregation, isn't it? It all stems from this horrible thing wizards have of thinking they're superior to other creatures, but they're not and I believe we should start the fight against it because if we don't… who will?" she finished almost in a whisper.

"I see your point," Remus said, properly sitting on his chair. "However, I have to say that I do not fully agree with you," he paused and Hermione bit her lip, waiting for him to continue. "Unlike the so called werewolf segregation, house-elves enjoy their condition as servants for wizard families. Most of them do, at least," he added for she was about to say otherwise. "And do note that I am not saying that all werewolves dislike the way the wizarding society treat them, for instance, some of them get a hold of the way they are treated as an excuse to harm innocent people. Nor am I saying that wizards should continue on treating them the way they currently are, it is definitely disrespectful and unfair to treat them that way, especially after so long has passed with them dedicating their lives to serve wizards."

"So, do you agree that there should be a fight?" Hermione asked eager to know if her former professor would agree with her or not.

"I do," Remus answered cautiously. "Although, you must recall that they are not wholly wishing to leave the life they live," he finished with a kind smile.

Hermione nodded seriously and returned her attention to her plate. Right after Remus was done with his food, Kingsley approached him.

"Have you talked to the headmaster lately?" the auror asked.

"No more than the meetings," Remus answered.

"Would you happen to know why Dumbledore didn't make Potter a prefect?"

Lupin took in a deep breath. This was of course a matter he had wondered about already, but was not yet sure on why Professor Dumbledore had decided to name Ron the Gryffindor prefect instead of Harry. Though, one thing he was sure of, the headmaster was rarely wrong about something and after everything he had done for him, Remus trusted him completely.

"He'll have had his reasons," replied Lupin.

"But it would've shown confidence in him. It's what I'd've done," persisted Kingsley, "especially with the Daily Prophet having a go at him every few days…"

"Undoubtedly…" Remus slowly raised his glass of wine, allowing the liquid to go down his throat before continuing. "We must trust him."

"S'not like we've got a choice, right?" he said, joking. "It's done!"

Kingsley laughed as lightly as his deep voice allowed him to and Lupin joined him; before he knew, his gaze had flown across the table, where another Auror was particularly entertained by the most recent Gryffindor prefect. For how long could one discuss the attributes of a single broomstick? Was there that much to be said on this simple topic?

"― the handles made of Spanish oak with anti-jinx varnish and in-built vibration control ―" Ron said to Tonks.

Remus shook his head with a fond smile in his lips. He should have known better. How many times had he heard James and Sirius discourse upon some broom's qualities? For how long had he heard his best friend talk about all the improvements the broomstick he had just been given? He kept watching her, but that fond smile never left his lips. It only grew bigger, specially when she got excited over one specific topic that would lead to a light change on her hair colour, one that would only be perceived if someone were paying close attention to it. He barely noticed when Molly got up, announcing that she would deal with the Boggart before going to bed, or when Sirius passed behind him towards the other side of the room, where Moody had been showing something to Harry, but he could never miss when she let out a truly happy laugh or how her voice went a bit high-pitched when they reached a topic she could not really control herself. It was nice to have an opportunity to simply watch her without someone to notice it. Or that's what he had thought. Tonks suddenly looked straight into his eyes and winked at him with a grin before getting up and walking to where her cousin had been with Mad-Eye for the last few minutes. Was she aware of the fact that he had been watching her all along?

He got up and also headed to the group of Order members, but he hardly had the chance to catch a glimpse of the photography in Tonks's hands when he heard Harry's voice coming from upstairs, shouting something that was not understandable above the party's murmur, but clearly in need of help. Remus did not even hesitate when he saw in Sirius's eyes that it had not been his imagination, he ran towards the origin of the sound. Someone had been crying, sobbing. Was it possible that Death Eaters had somehow found a way in?

"Stay here and don't let the children up!" he heard Mad-Eye address to his protégée. "It could be a trap."

_Stay here?, s_he asked herself, staring with a slight frown at the bunch of people in the photo in her hands. Right. Once again she had heard it. 'Don't do nothing foolish, Tonks,' 'Don't let your temper get the best of you, Tonks,' 'Be safe, don't do anything harsh!' It was not something that got easier to listen after the first time, she hated it just as much. She was not exactly a pacifist, she was a fighter. She belonged where they were all heading now, not where she was. It took her all her willpower to not follow suit, but seeing the looks in Ginny's and Ron's eyes, she closed her own, taking a deep breath.

"I'm sure it's nothing!" she assured, more relaxed than she truly was. "Someone's probably just found a bat's nest or something. Hey, Ginny, did Ron tell about his new gift yet?" Tonks asked with a grin, walking towards the living-room and hoping it would be enough to get both their minds out of whatever had been happening up there.

"How could he?" Ginny asked, throwing herself on the couch. "You've been monopolising him all along!"

Tonks chuckled, gladly taking a seat beside her.

"Sorry. So," Tonks added to the Weasley boy. "Tell your sister how long the new Cleansweep takes to go from nought to seventy."

"Oh, right," Ron rubbed the back of his neck, taking a seat across the couch the girls were. "Ten seconds. Did you know that it is the fourth series of brooms to actually get to seventy? Before it only the Firebolt, obviously, the Nimbus…"

* * *

><p>"What's going on?" Remus asked, entering the room where the cries were coming from, closely followed by Sirius and Mad-Eye. He saw Harry vainly trying to get Molly to leave the task of getting rid of the Boggart and… dead Harry? In the blink of an eye, his brain connected the dots and he pulled out his wand, stepping in front of the creature.<p>

"Riddikulus!" he said, seeing it change from Harry's dead body to the round moon, waving his wand once more, the orb vanished in a puff smoke.

"Oh ― oh ― oh!" gulped Mrs. Weasley, and she broke into a storm of crying, her face in her hands.

"Molly," said Lupin bleakly, walking over to her. "Molly, don't…" he passed his arms around her and she soon was sobbing her heart out on his shoulder. "Molly, it was just a Boggart," he started to pat her on the head; it pained him so much to see the amount of pain she had been in at the mere thought of Harry's death, "just a stupid Boggart…"

"I see them d ― d ― dead all the time!" Mrs. Weasley moaned into his shoulder. "All the t ― t ― time! I d ― d ― dream about it… D ― d ― don't tell Arthur," Molly was gulping now, moping her eyes frantically with her cuffs. "I d ― d ― don't want him to know… being silly…"

Remus broke the hug for a moment to get a handkerchief in his shirt's pocket and hand it over to her, where she blew her nose.

"Harry, I'm so sorry. What must you think of me?" she said shakily. "Not even able to get rid of a Boggart…"

"Don't be stupid," said Harry, trying to smile.

"I'm just s ― s ― so worried," she said, tears spilling out of her eyes again. "Half the f ― f ― family's in the Order, it'll b ― b ― be a miracle if we all come through this… and P ― P ― Percy's not talking to us… What if something d ― d ― dreadful happens and we've never m ― m ― made it up with him? And what's going to happen if Arthur and I get killed, who's g ― g ― going to look after Ron and Ginny?"

"Molly that's enough," said Remus firmly. "This isn't like last time. The Order are better prepared, we've got a head start, we know what Voldemort's up to ―"

Mrs. Weasley gave a little squeak of fright at the sound of the name.

"Oh, Molly, come on, it's about time you got used to hearing his name ― Look, I can't promise no one's going to get hurt, nobody can promise that, but we're much better off than we were last time. You weren't in the Order then, you don't understand. Last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one…"

"Don't worry about Percy," said Sirius, abruptly, who had been staring at the spot where Harry's dead body had been not long before. Maybe she did care a great deal for his godson after all. "He'll come round. It's only a matter of time before Voldemort moves into the open; once he does, the whole Ministry's going to be begging us to forgive them. And I'm not sure I'll be accepting their apology," he added, bitterly.

"And as for who's going to look after Ron and Ginny if you and Arthur died," said Lupin, smiling slightly, "what do you think we'd do, let them starve?"

Molly smiled tremulously.

"Being silly," she muttered again, mopping her eyes.

"Now, come on," he said, standing up and helping her to do the same. "Go up to your room and get yourself a good night of sleep. Merlin knows we're all in serious need of those," he added, blinking his eyes tenderly.

The witch smiled at him once again before leaving, headed to her own room.

Slowly, after Molly and Harry had gone to their own rooms, Remus, Sirius and Moody went downstairs.

"Boggart," Sirius answered Tonks's wordless question as they entered the drawing-room.

"Ah," Tonks bit her lip, sitting in a more proper way on the couch. "Boggarts can be nasty," she stated, her eyes focused on the rug under her feet to avoid the gaze she knew Mad-Eye had upon her. A certainty in both their minds that their thoughts were wandering to that same occasion, years ago, one that neither could have forgot, had they tried.

"Only if you're not expecting," Remus said with a warm smile. "To defeat creature is far too simple if you know what's coming."

"Not always, professor," Ron said a bit nervous. "During that class, when you taught us how to get rid of them, I knew what was coming, but I got terrified of it anyway."

"It wasn't even a real spider, Ron," Ginny protested.

"Try telling that to your brain when there's a seven feet tall, hairy monster in front of you!" he replied, angrily at his sister.

"Hey, guys!" Tonks called to pacify before things got far too hot and well, she could really use their help. "I still need a disguise for tomorrow. Care to help to me?" She asked with a small grin.

As all the heads turned to her, Sirius's eyes grew wide and his lips swirled into a wild smirk.

"You can be… _anyone_?" he asked his cousin.

Tonks rolled her eyes.

"No, Sirius," she answered. "I can _morph_ into anyone, but I'll still be myself," Tonks finished with her brows slightly furrowed.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving his hand at her. "Same thing."

"As long as you're here at nine," Mad-Eye growled, getting up. "I don't care. Just don't choose the punky teen again."

"Ah, but she's my favourite!" cried Tonks.

"That's the point!" he replied, angrily. "You wear her far too much and I know you'll want to wear her again later on, so _save it_!"

Tonks shook her head before smiling fondly at him.

"G'night!"

"Night," he replied before closing the door behind him and magically locking it.

Slowly, Tonks turned her head back to her cousin and noticed that the smirk had not left, if anything, it had grown wider.

"No!" she stated. "I know what you're thinking; the answer's no!"

"I haven't said anything!" Sirius defended himself as Remus's, Ron's and Ginny's heads dazedly turned from one to another.

"You haven't _voiced_ anything," she corrected him. "But that look of yours says enough!"

"C'mon! Why not?"

Tonks looked at him with disbelief in her eyes.

"Because it's awfully disturbing!"

"No more than having your nose turning into a snout, I bet," He scoffed.

"Siri, let it go," Tonks asked. "I'm not turning into a guy."

Ron supressed a laughter as Ginny and Remus's faces finally showed signs of understanding.

"Siri?" he played dumb. "Does this mean I can call you Nymphie again?"

"NO!"

"Then, let me chose," Sirius asked.

"Why do I get the feeling I'll regret this?" she replied, closing her eyes for a second.

"Oh, come on! You already can't do the punky teen, lemme chose something for you."

Tonks pondered for a minute, trying to get what else her cousin had already planned for her.

"It's just a couple of hours, anyway," Ginny said, taking Sirius's side. "What's the worst that could happen?" she finished with a small shrug and a grin.

Tonks looked from one to another, Ginny was right, she had already stated that the worst was not even going to happen and it would not last for long either way. She took in a deep breath before answering.

"Fine. What do you want?"

Ginny grinned and Sirius smirked.

"My mother," he said.

Shaking her head, Tonks did not dare to breathe in disbelief, struggling to get it out.

"Your… _mother_?" she asked with a heavy frown. "Why the fuck would you want me to morph into that old hag? So you could kill me?"

"You know," Sirius said. "It's not a bad idea…"

"…Ugh!" she shook her head fiercely. "Kill her portrait, then! You can have that pleasure as many times as you want! I'll even help you!"

"Next time, go for the guy," Sirius advised.

"She's worse than a guy!"

"_Is she_?" Sirius's features held a playful frown.

"NO!"

"Merlin," Sirius began. "If you're going to get your hair green because of it, then you can have an old lady, you don't need to go with my beloved mother," he ironised.

"Deal!" Tonks's hair turned back to pink as fast and as unintentionally as it had become green.

"Reckon you still going to be needing her clothes?" Sirius grinned evilly.

"_You_..." Tonks clenched her teeth before exhaling heavily. "Fine! I'll come by early and get those... checked..."

"Good luck with that, Tonks," Ginny said with a small grin as she got up. "We better be heading to bed soon, Ron. Mum will be more than pissed if we get up late."

"Right..." Ron yawned widely as he got up to follow his sister.

"I should probably go to bed too..." Tonks made known.

"But things were about to get interesting!" Sirius grinned, taking a bottle of Firewhiskey from under the sink.

Tonks folded her arms looking from the bottle to her cousin's face, trying to decide if she should or not have a drink with him.

"Come on, you two!" he levitated it to the table and grabbed three goblets. "You aren't going to let me drink alone, are you?"

Tonks bit her lip and looked at Remus, not a word was necessary for him to understand that she wanted to know his opinion on the situation. He sustained her gaze, still trying to think what would be the best approach to take. But Sirius grew impatient at the lack of answer to his query.

"You can sleep here, cuz," he announced to her surprise.

"In your bed?" she laughed. "You know the bloody house is full, Sirius. I'd still need to go home."

Sirius scrunched his nose, but Tonks merely shrugged; though, both of them stared at the other Marauder in the room when he cleared his throat.

"I could offer you my own," Remus said, looking Tonks in the eyes.

"Your bed?" she asked incredulously a moment later after gazing at him for a few instants.

Lupin answered her with a curt nod.

"That's... _sweet_, Remus," she smiled, suppressing the urge to reach out and hold his hands on the table. "But I'm not making you go to your house just so I don't need to go to my own."

"I would be more than comfortable on the couch," he replied with a kind smile.

"If the couch is on the board," Tonks smiled. "Then I'll take it."

"Forgive me, Miss Tonks, but I ―"

"Not helping with the 'Miss'," she stated, staring at the wooden table as she twirled a few of her red hairs on her fingers.

"_Tonks_," Remus corrected himself. "I cannot allow yourself to sleep in that infested piece of threadbare cushions whilst I would be resting in a comfortable bed up in my room," It was as simple as he had stated. Remus was after all, a gentleman and he would not allow a lady to have such a terrible night just so he could have a slightly better one.

"Believe me, Remus," Tonks chuckled. "I've slept in _faaar_ worse places."

"It does not mean, however, that you sho ―"

"For fuck's sake!" Sirius slammed the Firewhiskey bottle on the table before finally throwing himself on his chair. "Will you two just quit it?"

"We would be done had she accepted my offer."

"I'm not a little girl who needs to sleep in a bed!" she frowned at her cousin. "I'm staying on the couch," Tonks crossed her arms over her chest as if she had finished the discussion.

"That's it!" Sirius drew out his wand. "You've got fifteen seconds," with a flick of his wand, the number appeared in the air above them. "Otherwise I'm locking both of you up at my mother's with Buckbeak," he poured himself some of the beverage in one of the goblets as the number fifteen became a fourteen.

Remus bit his lip as his straightened his eyes, looking at his best friend. He did not have a doubt in this world that Sirius would go through with his plan; he had seen the Black in too many similar occasions to understand that if he had set his mind in something like that, he would follow it, until the end. He was not afraid of him, however, he was merely making an effort to avoid a disagreement.

Tonks watched the number decrease and let out a short laugh with a small shrug of her shoulders. _She would like to see him try._

"Good luck with that," her tone was almost challenging and she glanced at her fingernails as if to have something to occupy herself with, Tonks missed the eyebrow Sirius cocked in her direction at those words.

"Come on, Tonks," Remus pleaded.

"No," she said in a playful tone without lifting up her gaze to meet his.

"Is it... pride?" Though Remus knew it was, he had to ask, just to see if she would admit… or at least, get somewhere to start.

Tonks held her breath for a split second. Of course it was pride, she was not going to let him win it like that. Admitting that her pride was in the way, though, was something she was not going to do, so well, attack would always be the best defence.

"Is it _that_ bad to spend a night locked with me in a room?"

"No!" Remus answered, probably slightly faster than he should. "I mean... that's not the point."

"Of course it is!" Tonks finally unfolded her arms. "You're going through all this trouble so you won't have to stay with me up there."

Sirius's bark-like laugh filled the room. This had turned out to be much more fun than he had expected it to be and with a nearly imperceptible flick of his wand, the numbers began to decrease much slower.

"I just think it would not be good for us to ―"

"'Wouldn't be _good_ for us'?" she repeated frowning. "How are you getting out with _that_ one now, Lupin?"

Remus opened his mouth to answer her, but clenched his teeth exhaling heavily. He ran his hand on his forehead and looked up. _Six seconds, splendid!_, he thought. If only there was a way to...

"I'll propose to you ―"

"And now you wanna marry me?" Tonks asked with her eyebrows raised. The lost look in his eyes made her grin wide and she chuckled. "Just a joke, Remus, go ahead."

"We get the mattress in Sirius's mother's bed and put it in my room," he began. "I'll sleep in it and you get my bed. We'd still be in the same room just to prove for you that I don't think it is..." Remus looked up again, two seconds to the end of their time. Was it him or those four seconds took way too long to pass?

Tonks glanced at him sideways for an instant whilst a smile played on the corner of her lips. She leant on the table towards him before gazing into those beautiful amber orbs that were holding the sweetest layer of fear. "I'll take the mattress," she made known, biting her lip and slowly going to lean her back on her chair again. Anticipation making her heart bounce in her chest, but the small smile never left her lips.

Remus made to protest, but Sirius got up.

"You heard the lady, mate," he said, pouring Firewhiskey in a second goblet. "Time's over, she's got the mattress. Now if you please ―"

"No," he said, also getting up. "I don't think I'll be drinking tonight, Sirius. I'll just ― I'll go organise the room," he smiled to show that he was fine with the situation, but he needed to go. "Take as much time as you want," he added to Tonks. "Everything will be ready for you to sleep once you arrive. I'll retrieve myself now. Good night," placing a hand in his pocket, Remus walked out of the kitchen. Slowly, he ran his hand on his face. That girl had some nerve.

Regardless of his bedroom being in the pattern of organisation, it could not continue the way it was and he drew out his wand, so the room could fit a double mattress on the floor. Soon he was staring at the somewhat soft surface Buckbeak had been sleeping on, right beside his bed and as cosy as it could get. He changed clothes trying to keep his mind at rest despite the fact that he was about to let her sleep on… _that_. He sat on the bed ready to sleep and spared one last glance at it, but he did not lie in the bed, instead he stood up again and went to get a piece of parchment.

More chatting about the wizard's favourite sport, quidditch, than actually drinking, Tonks and Sirius did not stay up for too long; half an hour later and with her head starting to spin, she found herself entering Remus's room with the tip of her wand lighted up. Closing the door with her foot behind herself, her breath got caught in her throat and she let it out as a sigh at the sight of Remus's bed empty. She walked over to see him, almost wishing she would do something clumsy to wake him up, but the path towards the bed was completely clear.

She watched him sleep for a moment and was unable to stop her mind from perceiving the fact that he slept on the right side of the mattress whilst she would always lie on the left side of her own bed. Lying towards the left side, she supressed the will to lie beside him and scare the death out of him the next morning, saying they had indeed gone through what he had been thinking. Tonks put both of her hands on her mouth so she would not burst out laughing and wake him up. She sat on the bed, waiting a few seconds until her breathing had eased out and at that moment she saw the note lying on the pillow. A smile slowly spread across her lips as she read, in awe at how stunning and elaborate his handwriting was, almost as though he had put all the care in the world in each letter he had written her. For how long she stood there, completely marvelled at his calligraphy, Tonks did not know, though carefully putting that short piece of parchment in her pocket, she murmured "Don't worry, I won't make it five days."

In the next instant, her mind had drifted to the sleeping state of unconsciousness, for the first time, under the same roof as him.  
>Inside the front pocket of her favourite erumpent leather coat, the note read:<p>

_Dear Tonks,_

_I am terribly sorry. Forgive me if I let out the impression that I would not enjoy spending a night in your company, it was never my intention. One could argue that I did not stand by my word, but never have I ever agreed to the statement of you sleeping in the mattress. Please, believe me when I say that I did try to go through with our, for the lack of a better word, deal. However, I could not rest well knowing that you would not be resting well right beside me. Therefore, by agreeing with me, you would be incredibly kind and allowing both of us a better night of sleep._

_Wishing you a fair rest,_

_Remus J. Lupin_

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><p><strong>AN:** Gah! So sorry for taking forever, but I've been really busy! Life is really getting to me! :/ Thank you one more time for all your awesome reviews and please, leave your thoughts in the box down there, it only take a minute, but means so, so much! Hey, look! I am able to write short ANs! XD


	13. 12 Just Friends

**A/N:** Hi! Sooo sorry for taking forever, but I've just been really busy! Anyway, I've posted the first chapter of the sequel to this story, it's called By My Side and I suggest you check it out, but only if you don't want spoilers from this one because it will obviously show up there. Once again, thank you so, so, so much for your awesome reviews! I really appreciate them! And I'll love you forever if you leave your thoughts in the box bellow, 'kay?

R.I.P. James and Lily Potter, happy Halloween, though! And enjoy it!

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 12: Just Friends<span>**

Remus woke up the next morning and walked as silently as he could to the side of the bed, her bed, no, not exactly, the bed she was in, his bed. He kneeled and watched Tonks sleep. Her hair had grown a bit since he had seen her the night before and her mouth was slightly open. She snored unladylike and he smiled._ Just like Sirius_, he thought. She was sleeping face down and her eye was covered by a tuft of her hair, which was a light shade of magenta this morning. Against his will, he got up and lit a few candles; if they needed to be at King's Cross Station by eleven, it was time to wake up.

Tonks's eyes perceived the new light in the room and slowly opened, she watched Remus touch the wick with the tip of his wand and before she knew, her eyes had dropped from his back to what the thin fabric of his blue pyjamas was letting be perceived. _Nice arse you got there_, she started to smirk, but bit her lip to stop it, somewhat afraid of what her mind had done. Tonks grabbed her pillow and put it on her own face, hiding from him. _What's wrong with you?_, she asked herself as he turned around after hearing the sound of the pillow being pushed against her face, to realise that she was awake and obviously not happy with that fact.

"Sorry," he stepped forward. "I didn't mean to wake you, I mean, I ―"

Tonks threw the pillow on her feet and smiled fondly at him.

"S'all rig ―" she tried to say, but her voice failed her and she cleared her throat, trying really hard not to blush. "It's all right, Remus," she sat on the bed, her hair was messier than he had ever seen and she quickly ran her fingers through it, making it even messier, pointing in all directions. "It's time to… to w ― wa ― wake up, anyway," she said, rubbing her eyes and failing at her attempt to supress a yawn.

Remus moved to place his hands on his pockets, but half-way to it he realised that pyjamas trousers did not have pockets and for some desperate seconds he wondered what he should do with his hands, should he just leave them pending on his sides? Should he put them behind his back? Certainly, not place them on his hips. Merlin, what do you even do with your hands when you can't pocket them? Where were they before he decided to put them in his inexistent pockets? Thus, out of a sudden brilliant idea, he decided to cross his arms over his chest.

Tonks breathed deeply, excitation about the imminent mission starting to fill her. She was part of the squad that would protect Harry Potter on his journey to the King's Cross Station, she needed a disguise, this was the real thing, real danger and she loved it. The excitation, the beats of her heart increasing, the adrenaline starting to run through her system. Until she looked at him… Remus was standing with folded arms and looking at her. Was he mad or something? Then, it hit her. This was his room, okay, technically, it was Sirius's, but still. He was in his pyjamas and she was fully dressed for not sleeping at her own place. Clearly, he was waiting for her to leave. He had offered her to sleep in his bedroom and well, sleep was done, he had never said anything about the next morning, she obviously had no business there anymore.

He had been staring, he knew he had. There was something about her, something that would always attract his gaze, something he could not explain as if he was trying to find the seven-year-old he knew inside of the girl in her twenties. And it was moments like these, moments in which she was acting just like the toddler he used to read to that fascinated him the most, rubbing her eyes and messing up with her hair. He forced his mind to find anything else to focus on, it had been too long since he had started to stare, what would she think of him?

"You closed the door," he stated, his eyes traveling to the bedroom door and back to her.

"Yeah…" Tonks got a fist full of the blanket, her hands nervously twisting it. "I ― I figured you'd sleep with closed doors," she mentally punched herself. _He mentioned the door, guess what he's been thinking about?_

"Well, I do," he replied in a calm tone. "Although, with you here, I thought… open doors would be right thing…" his eyes left her and focused on the floor beneath his feet, he really just wanted to respect her, the last thing he wanted was to have rumours about them… doing things… not that he would not enjoy, it's just ― Oh, Merlin! He was just trying to be a gentleman and not have her honour stained by him.

…Of course. There it was again, the night before had been the same thing. A night in her company would not be enjoyed by him, not that she even wanted to do such things with him, but having him thinking that he also didn't… Well, it hurt. She threw the duvet aside and slid her legs off the bed.

"I'll leave you to…" she bent down to get her boots and her coat. "you know, get ready, need to get the disguise done," she walked out the room on her socks as fast as she could without looking like she wanted to run away from him, closing the door on her way out.

She leant against the wall beside the door she had just closed and exhaled heavily. Why was she so nervous anyway? This was Remus, Sirius's best friend, _her_ friend! She was not supposed to feel this way. This was probably all in her head, maybe he wasn't feeling that way at all! But then why was he staring at her with folded arms? Did she do something wrong? Oh, Merlin! Tonks slid down the wall and sat on the floor. No, things were not going to be this way. She realised that her heart had sped off, but it had nothing to do with the excitation of the mission. She needed to focus; Mad-Eye would kill her if she was so distracted. She shook her head. No, this wasn't her. She was more than able to put this entire behind and be the Auror she was. She put on her boots, not caring enough to lace them, only stopping at the kitchen to grab a couple of toasts before climbing the stairs to the last floor where was the room of Sirius's mother.

"Finally!" Tonks heard her cousin's voice as soon as she opened the door. She should have known he would be waiting for her up there. "Oh, wait!" Sirius looked at Buckbeak as she stood at the doorway. "Bow," he instructed her and she did as he said, not taking her eyes from the creature behind him whilst remembering all the times she had been instructed on how to approach this creature. The hippogriff stepped forward and bowed his head, allowing her to breathe. "Great, come on in," Sirius grinned as she stepped in, closing the door. "Fancy this?" he asked throwing something at her.

"Not really," she answered after catching it and taking a good look at it. The item was a purple hat, shaped like a porkpie, the complete opposite of anything one would find in her wardrobe.

"That's the one then."

"Didn't know you fancied picking clothes," Tonks pointed out, caressing Buckbeak's head. She had always loved magical creatures, but hippogriffs were indeed fascinating ones.

"I don't," he replied, opening the wardrobe's doors. "But this is a special occasion."

She folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Right."

Sirius's hands were running through his mother's outfits so fast that he could not possibly be actually paying attention to them. For a moment, Tonks merely watched as he searched to the clothes that would less match the horrible hat he had found, but nothing seemed awful enough for him.

"Oh, just get anything purple!" urged Tonks, losing her patience.

Sirius looked at her and back to the dresses. For a split second, it seemed for her that he would say something about this needing to be carefully prepared, but just like her, he had lost patience, he would never know how some women were able to spend so much time choosing an outfit. Her cousin grabbed the first purple or violet or lilac thing he spotted, he did not care enough to look. If he had been able to focus on his mother's dresses, he was far too bored. He needed to leave the house, even if it were for just a few minutes, nothing better than with a bunch of other Order members to accompany him and aid in case the worse happened. Besides, he would be able to escort his godson to the King's Cross Station. Sirius's smile when he left her alone in the room to change clothes was the happier Tonks had seen upon his face in weeks, as though he really had nothing to worry about.

Closing her eyes, she focused on the first image of an old lady that came to her mind. As it always happened when she disguised, she knew it was probably someone she had seen recently, passing by whilst she walked somewhere she did not care enough to pay attention. Tonks could feel every inch of her body tingling as she morphed, her skin getting thinner and more flaccid, her hair turning grey and getting curls. A few minutes later, she opened her eyes and was happy at the result she saw, she really looked like an old lady, but maybe she was a bit too thin. Focusing again, she pictured herself fatter and opened her eyes to admire her job. _Much better_, she thought with a smile before she started to take her clothes off, feeling her pants tightened around her belly. The sight of an old lady with her outfit was definitely an odd one.

Half an hour later, she had met Sirius and Mad-Eye at the hall.

"How do I look?" she asked with a grin and holding the hat in her right hand, she opened her arms to allow them a better view.

"Like a far too happy ol' hag," informed Sirius, smirking.

Mad-Eye's brows lifted almost imperceptible, he nodded shortly before growling, "Disguised," and limped towards the kitchen, but not before shouting, "and late!"

A proud smile came to her lips, this was what she did best. No one would ever suspect her, she could go anywhere and nobody would know if she did not want them to; that was what she loved about her ability, it would always provide her a better way to do the job she loved.

"Will you do me a favour?" hinted Tonks. "Tell Molly I'm waiting for her on the corner? I'm ready and well, it's late so I'll just ― Thanks," she smiled and opened the door, putting the hat on as she met the sunlight. Too bad she did not have any grandma-like sunglasses.

* * *

><p>Remus watched her leave his room almost as if she was anguished from staying in the same room as he. It shouldn't be that surprising to him, should it? He had been looking at her for more than a few minutes straight, what did he expect? For her to smile and ask him what was in his mind? Of course that would never happen. She probably just thought it was incredibly creepy to have a werewolf several years older than she was, staring at her. He sat down on the bed she was just occupying and placed his forehead on his hands. Why was he this nervous? He breathed deeply with closed eyes. He could not allow himself to be this way, he needed to concentrate himself on the task just ahead of him, Harry needed his help, even though he did not know, Harry needed his help. Lupin changed his clothes and went to get a cup of tea, which he knew would be helpful.<p>

In the kitchen, Molly had been angry at every single soul, saying they would all miss the train if they did not get a move on.

"Fred, George! Are your trunks down here yet?" she yelled at the boys, who had been playing with the eggs they were too full to eat.

"Er ― not exactly, Mum," George answered.

"But they will be really shortly!" Fred grinned as they both got up.

He prepared himself a cup of camomile tea and as he had been left alone in the room, Remus began revising the plan to take Harry to the station. He was about to start recalling the way they would take when Mad-Eye came in.

"Sturgis here yet?"

"Haven't seen him," Remus shook his head.

"He better arrive soon, we ought to leave in bit otherwise we'll miss it," Moody limped away, placing a porter's cap over his eyes, growling his complaints about the missing Order member and the fact that they could not leave without him so everyone would hear.

Remus finished his tea just before he heard a loud sound of something heavy hitting wood along Mrs. Black's usual shouts. He ran to the hallway to find Mrs. Weasley patching up a bleeding cut above Ginny's left eye. Fred and George were piling a couple of trunks right beside them. Molly was yelling at the twins, fighting a battle with Sirius's mother as Hermione ran up the stairs with Hedwig in one arm and Crookshanks in the other.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS ―"

"― FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS ―"

"We were just trying to save some energy," George tried to explain.

"AND COULDN'T THINK ABOUT SAVING YOUR SISTER, COULD YOU?"

"How could we know that Gin would be climbing the stairs at the same time?" Fred said as an attempt to take the blame out of them.

"YOU TWO ARE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS! It's YOUR fault! ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT!"

"All right, I'm sorry, Gin, we didn't mean to," George kneeled beside her.

"Yeah, sorry, sis. We'll make sure you're not on the way the next time," Fred grinned, tapping her back.

Ginny nodded, frowning a bit as her mother finished with her cut.

"― BLOOD TRAITORS DIRTYING EVERY CORNER ―"

Remus checked his watch; they had half an hour to get to the platform without missing the train.

"We must get going, Molly."

She did not even spare him a look.

"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!"

His brows furrowed at the sudden shout coming from the woman just beside him and Remus wondered why she had gone through the trouble of saying the last word; it was crystal clear that she was not asking them to come to the hall.

Hermione came running down the stairs the next instant, followed by Harry, not half a minute later, jumping two steps at a time as he carried his trunk and Hedwig's cage.

"Harry you're to come with me and Tonks," shouted Molly.

"MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!"

"Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage."

The next instant a huge black dog had strike them both with his tail.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"

However, the dog pretended to not have heard her words and went to greet Harry briefly and back to Mrs. Wealey, above the bunch of trunks heaps on the hall, wearing the happiest face a dog could make.

"Oh honestly…" said Molly, despairingly, "well, on your own head be it," she consented, wrenching the front door.

On the corner, Tonks greeted the group that had taken more time to show up than she had thought they would; a smile coming to her lips as she watched the bearlike dog running beside them.

"Wotcher, Harry," she said, winking at him for he still seemed to be looking for her. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.

"I know, I know," moaned Mrs. Wealey, lengthening her stride, "but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis… If only Arthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again… but Fudge wouldn't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days… _How_ Muggles can stand traveling without magic…"

Molly's complaints were cut off by a dog's bark and the next second he was running around them, snapping at pigeons and chasing his own tail. Sirius's happiness was contagious, Tonks would dare anyone to look at him at that moment and not smile. He had been trapped inside the house he hated the most for so long that his need to get out and scratch his legs was as clear as the stars in an unclouded night sky.

After helping Mad-Eye organise the many trunks as the Auror kept complaining about Sturgis Podmore not coming and having no time to try to get another Order member to cover for him and watching Arthur leave with Ron and Hermione, Remus realised that if they did not leave the house immediately, they would end up missing the train, so he exited through the door, escorting Ginny and the twins by himself.

"Boys," he said in a warning tone, tilting his head towards their sister.

The twins drew out their wands at precisely the same time, grinning as Ginny let out her breath in an annoyed puff.

Carefully watching every movement around them, Tonks walked beside Molly with Harry between them, only sparing a glance to Sirius here and there as the Animagus scared a couple of cats along the way. Luckily, their journey to the King's Cross Station was completely uneventful and they had arrived at the platform twenty minutes later. Between the ninth and the tenth platforms, they lingered and when the coast was clear, one by one they leant on it, entering the platform nine and three quarters.

"I hope the other's make it in time," Molly told them as she looked behind herself at the wrought-iron arch to see which new arrivals would come.

Tonks kept watching everything around them, but smiled when she saw the Hogwarts Express, exposing its glory by belching sooty steam and nostalgia filled her heart at that beautiful sight.

"Nice dog, Harry!" she heard a tall boy with dreadlocks call, looking at Sirius, who was wagging his tail frantically.

"Thanks, Lee!" grinned Harry.

"Oh, good," Molly sighed, relieved, "here's Alastor with the luggage, look…"

Tonks proceed to help him with the cart full with trunks.

"All okay," he muttered to them. "Don't think we've been followed."

Tonks relaxed immediately, if Mad-Eye did not think they were followed, they certainly were not.

A couple of minutes later, Arthur had arrived with Ron and Mione and Remus was coming through the archway with Ginny and the Weasley twins.

"No trouble?" growled Mad-Eye at him.

"Nothing," answered Remus.

"I'll still be reporting Sturgis to Dumbledore," confided Moody. "That's the second time he's not showed up in a week. Getting as unreliable as Mundungus."

"Well, look after yourselves," Remus reminded them, shaking their hands until he reached Harry and clapped the boy's shoulder; there was so much he wanted to tell him, but they had no time, all he could do was resume it all in one request and trust James's son would be able to look after himself, like he knew he could. "You too, Harry. Be careful."

But before Harry could say anything, Mad-Eye came over.

"Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled," he said, also shaking Harry's hand. "And don't forget all of you ―" he turned his head to make sure they were all listening to his reminder. "Careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put it in a letter at all."

"It's been great meeting all of you," said Tonks, hugging Ginny and Hermione. She would really miss those girls. "We'll see you soon, I expect."

The train whistled as a warning to all the students to get on board.

"Quick, quick," hurried Molly, hugging as many of them as she could put her arms on, she stopped when she got Harry for the second time. "Write… Be good… If you've forgotten something we'll send it on… Onto the train, now, hurry…"

But Sirius got tired of not being able to do more than just let his tongue hang like a happy dog and he end up putting his front paws on Harry's shoulders, though it did not last long for Mrs. Weasley pushed Harry away, hissing "For heaven's sake, act more like a dog, Sirius!"

"See you!" called the boy from the window with Ron, Hermione and Ginny waving beside him.

The train began to move and Sirius started to chase it, barking all the way until the scarlet locomotive took a corner and disappeared. Tonks let out a laugh, despite looking more than three times older than she truly was, Remus could see her young spirit inside her eyes and in that smile, he could not help and chuckled with her. If there was one thing he liked about that girl, was the fact that she could always turn off all the depressing things around them and look as happy as one could be with every small thing. It really was all in his mind, maybe she was not anguished when she left his room in that morning, maybe she was really on a hurry to get her disguise done. She saw him chuckling as he looked at her and she bit her lip. Everything was all right between the two and she felt a relief as the burden she did not know was on her shoulders, left. She winked at him and offered her hand, he smiled honoured before taking her hand and together they apparated at the Grimmauld Place's kitchen.

"Gosh!" Tonks threw herself on the nearby chair, covering her eyes with her hands as she slowly morphed from the body she was not comfortable in. She heard the loud crack of apparition right beside her, which indicated that her cousin was now in the room with them.

Remus watched narrowly the stained expression that covered her features as she morphed back. It really seemed like she was almost in pain and he wanted to ask her if she was indeed, how it felt to change at will, but it appeared that he lacked the courage. What if he was entering a very personal territory? What if she did not like people asking about it? He knew he was not fond of people dwelling on his condition. Of course she had dealt very well with him asking a few things a couple of months ago, but they were making jokes about animals and Hogwarts Houses, the situation was completely different. If that was how she felt about her abilities, he did not want to be the one who would make her voice it.

When she got rid of the smallest sign of the old lady she was a few minutes ago, Tonks slightly startled them by getting up at once, saying "I need my clothes," and hurrying out the door.

Sirius sat on the edge of a chair, crossing his feet on the table and folded his arms. He glanced at Remus with an expression that he had not seen in at least fifteen years, his eyebrows were somewhat lifted up and a small smirk played on the corner of his lips. Lupin watched him for a moment, but did not quite understand what he wanted and walked to the sink, leaning his back on it.

"So," Sirius said with that tone Remus knew was demanding answers.

"So?" he replied, not knowing what he was aiming at.

"Anything you want to share with me, eh, Moony?"

Remus frowned a bit, unsure of what he wanted him to say.

"Not really, Padfoot," he added in hope to get his friend's mood a bit better. "Well, if you mean the full moon, it's next week and I'm still trying to fig ―"

"Oh, quit that, Moony!" Sirius had taken his legs from the table and leant his elbows on it instead. "What was that all about?" he asked in a nearly angry tone, but trying not to shout.

"And by that you mean…?" Remus pocketed his hands.

"You begging for my cousin to sleep in your bed!" he said in a furious whisper.

Remus's eyes widened in surprise, was that what he really thought he had done?

"I didn't beg ―" he realised that he was nearly yelling and lowered his voice. "Godric, Sirius! I did not beg for her to sleep in my bed. I was only doing what any good host would do, what you should have done!"

"Oh, come on, Remus!" Sirius leant back on his chair. "You heard what she said, she's an Auror, she wouldn't have died after a night on the couch."

"So you were really going to allow your little cousin to spend a whole night on… _that_?" he sat on a chair, pointing to the kitchen's door, which was the direction of the drawing-room, where was the, ruined by all kinds of creatures, couch.

"She's as much as a little girl as Imma Death Eater," Sirius scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Reckon she's got nice legs, don't you think?"

Remus seemed to be about to vomit as he stared at his friend.

"You disgust me," he stated, standing up and beginning to walk towards the door, but Sirius got in the way.

"Don't blame me!" roared Sirius. "Unlike you, shagging was a bit out of the board, wasn't it? Between Askaban, hiding and being stuck here is not like I'v ―"

He had to stop himself for another Black made herself to be heard in the house.

"CREATURES OF DIRT! STAINING EVERY INCH OF MY PRECIOUS HOUSE WITH THEIR FILTHY BLOOD!"

Fortunately, Walburga's portrait was quickly shut by Arthur and Molly, passing by the stairs on their way to their room.

"As though _I_ have been sleeping with every woman in town ― She's half our age!" bellowed Remus.

"Remind me again when did we get another decade," joked Sirius, frowning slightly. "'Cause last time I checked, I was still in my mid-thirties…"

"I could never look at her that way," stated Remus after a moment of silence and deep down there was a part of him who actually believed what he said.

"Never?" Sirius questioned. "Not even over my dead body?"

"Never," Remus assured him. Yes, it was true! She was Sirius's cousin, Andy and Ted's little girl! He used to read her bedtime stories! How could he? He was not the sort of guy to… take advantage of a girl nearly half his age.

"Mad-Eye says you were sleeping with closed doors."

"Merlin, he saw that?"

"Well, he went to see why his favourite Auror weren't up yet," Sirius laughed lightly. "Though, he came back telling everyone it wasn't his business why you two weren't up yet."

Remus shook his head, he would need to explain everything to Moody, he had not done a single thing with her. Well, not that sort of thing.

"Told her she should've let it open…" his eyes were lost on the chair before him.

"And you two holding hands to apparate here…?"

"She held her hand for me to take it!" urged Lupin, but reminded himself to lower his voice one more time. What else would he need to explain? "What was I supposed to do? Leave it hanging there?" There it was again, the voice in the back of his mind that wondered why he was so nervous when it came to her.

"All right, all right," Sirius smiled. "I get it. You're just friends."

"Yes," hissed Remus, looking at him as though he was daring Sirius not to believe, "we are _just _friends."

Sirius sat back down, holding his hands on the air in a redemptive sign.

"I trust you, mate," he nodded curtly. "Just friends."

"Good," Remus said through clenched teeth.

"Merlin, what were you two arguing about?" asked Tonks, conversationally, as she leant on the doorway, holding her coat in one hand and wiping a few of Buckbeak's small feathers from her T-shirt with the other.

"Oh, nothing," Sirius shrugged. "Just Remus thinking he's ancient."

Tonks frowned, lifting up her head, completely forgetting about the feathers.

"You're not old, Remus," she contested him. "I mean, you do have a few grey hairs, but hey, that's ―" _Nice? Charming? Neat? Fetching? …Endearing? Merlin, NO!_ "…normal."

Remus watched as she lowered her head to her T-shirt once again, appearing really focused on her task of taking the feathers away. Yet again there was something… something deep down, something he did not know what was, something he chose to ignore and he looked at Sirius with an expression that showed him that it was all solved.

"I know I'm not," he said, not taking his eyes from his friend. "Sirius is just exaggerating," he looked back to her and smiled when their eyes met. "I'm just too old for… certain things…"

Tonks shrugged.

"Dunno," she smiled at him. "Reckon you can always enjoy, perhaps not as much as you would some years back, but it could still be nice."

Sirius's eyebrows lifted and he tilted his head a bit. Remus could nearly hear him saying 'See?'

"That's what I've been trying to tell him…" he glanced at Remus. "But he said he could not like it."

"What is it?" she asked, curiously. "Bet I can make you like it," she grinned.

Remus took his time to breathe deeply before answering. Oh, why? Why did she have to be so curious?

"It's nothing, Tonks," he answered with a kind smile. "Just something I never really liked."

"Well, have you tried?" she asked, her arms opening questionably. "Can't say you don't like something until you try."

Remus opened his mouth to say that trying would be wrong, but he did not wish to incite her curiosity so, instead, he simply answered "No, I have not."

"Well, you ought to try then," she nodded with a smile. "C'mon! Just tell me what it is and, had I tried, I can tell you if it's good or not."

"It's really nothing, Tonks," Remus assured her. "Please, it's just something that's ― Well, it's wrong," he surrendered to the truth or, rather, part of it.

But luckily, for him, it did not incite her curiosity and she shrugged in response.

"All right, _mysterious-Remus_, if you say so," consented Tonks. "Hey, listen, I'm gonna go," she added, turning to Sirius. "Need to stop home and head to the Ministry."

"Not even waiting for lunch?" her cousin asked. "Molly says she's doing… What did she say she's doing?" he questioned Remus.

"She didn't tell me."

"Either way, it's something good," grinned Sirius.

Tonks pondered for a moment, thinking of the slice of pie from the Ministry's cafeteria that would be awaiting her. She had not worked all morning… The only difference it would make to get there fifteen minutes later is that her stomach would be decently filled instead of half-full by… _that_.

"Just need a quick shower," she smirked and walked away.

Sirius watched until she had gone out the door and looked at Remus with a frown, putting his feet on the table again and placing his hands in his pockets.

"You never liked her?"

"Not _that_ way," stated Remus.

Sirius walked over to him and leant on the sink beside him.

"S'not wrong, though," he added. "She's of age... for years now."

"Sirius ―"

"Just correcting you, mate," he explained, punching him slightly on the shoulder. "If you say that you're just friends, I believe you."

And, for once, Remus trusted what Sirius was saying.

"Thank you, Padfoot."

"Sure, after all," he grinned. "The Moony I knew would always come to me when he needed help with girls."

"Ha! Always…" Remus laughed, sarcastically. "No more than twice, that was."

Sirius lifted up his brown in a pure expression of disbelief, ignoring his friend's sarcasm.

"Believe it or not," he said. "I still got it."

"Who else would I go, huh?" Remus pointed out. "James was too worried about Lily and well," he tried to sound nonchalant at his unspoken mention Peter, "worse than me with girls, he was."

"You weren't bad with them, yourself. Mysterious-Remus always helped you," Sirius laughed. "Just needed a push in the right direction."

And for a short instant, before he allowed it to take over, before he obliged it to disappear from his mind, before he buried it with every other thought he got, Remus wondered if right now, all he needed was another push in the right direction as well, but, in any case, why would he need a push? They were no more than just friends after all.


	14. 13 Assignment

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! Finally done with the new chapter! \o/ Thank you so, so much for all of your reviews, I really appreciate them! And I'll love you forever if you let what you thought about this one in the box down there, all right? Thanks!

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 13: Assignment<span>**

Molly Weasley, as the three of them would come to find out, had decided to prepare some lamb chops, much to Sirius welfare ("Of course! How could I forget!"). The house was, for the first time since it was inhabited once more, almost silent; the kids were all gone, which left only the three of them and the Weasley couple besides Kreacher, the house-elf. Very little chat happened during lunch for their mouths were highly busy on appreciating the delicious meal and Tonks was about to leave when Mrs. Weasley served some homemade fudge, deciding she could lose another few minutes of work, she took a bite of one; little did she know that those minutes would turn out to be more than just a few. They heard a loud knock on the door and Arthur left to greet the new visitor.

"Out of the way, Weasley," growled Mad-Eye. "Who else's here?" he asked walking his way to the kitchen.

"Hm, just myself, Molly, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, Alastor," Arthur answered. "Why? Is anything wrong?"

Mad-Eye waited until he had reached the kitchen door to announce "Found out why Sturgis didn't show up to the mission today."

Frowns and apprehensive looks were shot back at him instantly.

"Waiting for an official invitation to say?" mocked Tonks.

He pursed his lips and the disparate eyes stared at her a second longer than needed.

"Why aren't you at work, young lady?"

"Hm, lunch?" she hesitated.

"If every time you get ten minutes, you stop to eat something, you're going _nowhere_!"

Tonks opened her mouth to reply, but the unfairness of his say, left her speechless. Since they had woken up, she had had nothing more than a couple of toasts. She had escorted the kids to the King's Cross Station, it was not as though she had been doing nothing all day. However, all she could do was ridiculously stare open-mouthed at him.

"Sturgis stood guard last night," Mad-Eye began, "at the Ministry, but was caught, atoneinthemorning, tryingtobreakin attheDepartmentofMysteries!" he shouted at them as if it was their fault. "They'll give him a trial by the end of the week, might even be pulled since he got caught on the spot."

"SONS OF DIRT! SCUM! TRASHING MY NOBLE HOUSE ―"

Mr. Weasley disappeared from behind Moody to close the curtains around the portrait.

"Azkaban?" questioned Molly with a frown.

"But he stood guard before," testified Sirius, crossing his arms over his chest. "He knew how to get in."

"That's the point, isn't it?" barked Mad-Eye.

"Hang on! A ― Are you suggesting that he― that he's not himself somehow?" asked Tonks.

"Why else would a member of the Order of the Phoenix try to break in a place we're trying to protect for _months_ at one in the morning if he already knew how to get in, Nymphadora?"

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" she bawled.

"They wouldn't," enunciated Remus calmly and all the heads turned to him.

"That's right!" Moody agreed. "He wouldn't!"

"So, what? Death Eater disguised d'you reckon?" interrogated Sirius.

"Can be a number of things," answered Mad-Eye. "Imperius curse included."

"What if they're sabbing us?" questioned Tonks.

For a moment, all the heads turned to her, analysing what she had just said.

"Makes sense," admitted Arthur. "Everybody knew Sturgis was friends with Dumbledore."

"We'll need to be even extra careful from now on," Remus immediately looked at Sirius, but the later looked away from him with an annoyed expression upon his face.

"Did you at least get your cloak back?" asked Molly.

"Nah," growled Mad-Eye, shaking his head. "The berks wouldn't let me visit; they had taken him down by the time I got there. Gotta alert Albus, until then, _constant vigilance_! All of you!" he reminded them, glaring at the five pair of eyes and throwing a copy of the Daily Prophet on the table before limping away. "Thought you might wanna know."

In the paper's first page, a photo of a woman, a squat, short one that neither Tonks nor Remus were happy to see under the title 'MINISTRY APPOINTS THE NEW HOGWARTS PROFESSOR'.

"Really?" asked Arthur, incredulously.

"_Umbridge_?" bellowed Tonks.

"Can't be," Remus slightly shook his head.

"What?" wondered Molly.

"D'you know her?" asked Sirius.

"Sort of," answered Tonks. "She's been to my Department a few times... She's always with Fudge, though. Reckon she's his assistant or something."

"Indeed she is his assistant," informed Remus, placing his elbows on the table and intertwining his fingers, eyes completely unfocused on the wood beneath them, "and a tart."

All the faces turned to him in complete surprise. With the exception of Sirius, none of them had seen him lose his composure. Sure, Tonks had seen him upset and angry the day they had brought Harry from his uncle's house and when he let her know he was a lycanthrope, but certainly not enough to call someone that, none of them would have been surprised to hear Sirius call her a tart, but Remus?

"Two years ago," he began looking around as if he had not seen the looks in their eyes, "she presented a draft law at the Ministry, you know, in the Being Division of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The original bit included putting werewolves under the Beast Division, during our untransformed shape as well, but it wasn't approved. Though, what she ended up doing is possibly just as bad," he sighed, taking a moment to summarise the whole story in his head. "Essentially, under her draft law, the establishment that hires a lycanthrope is obliged to display, in a well visible area, a plaque, board or something like that, that let the clients know that there is a werewolf working there; in the werewolf's tag name must read its condition as well ―"

"That's biz!" howled Sirius.

"― and under no circumstances they will receive a profit bigger than any of the others employees," Remus finished, nodding in an attempt to make them believe in what he had just said.

"Blimey!" sputtered Molly.

"Oh, come on! Sirius's right, that's pants!" stormed Tonks.

"Twunt," Sirius shook his head, as if he could not believe what his best friend had just said.

"And, when I left Hogwarts about a year ago, I had to face an inquiry on why I hadn't obeyed the law. Dumbledore got my side, but the Ministry still made me pay basically all the galleons I had saved from the year I worked there. The school had to pay as well," Remus took his time to breathe as them all stared in disbelief at him and he watched the woman in the picture smile under one of her many pink jumpers. In ten days, he would be able to swallow his feelings and ignore the entire situation, but this close to the full moon he had to stop himself from punching the table.

"A cow, that's what she is!" he roared. "How am I supposed to find a job, who would want to have a werewolf working with them like that?" He hid his face in his hands, embarrassment from yelling at them all now joining the frustration inside him.

Tonks's glance was fixed upon the paper and the more she watched the woman, the more she hated her. Remus was doing his best to be an honourable, righteous man, but Umbridge seemed to be doing everything in her power to make of that an impossible task. He had far more dignity than she could ever hope to have, how could she get to dictate what course would his life take?

"Bitch."

Silence fell upon them, gazes were lost in every corner of the kitchen, it seemed that none of them dared to breathe. The incredulity of Remus had just told them started to sink in. Moreover, if it was everything in their minds it would have been better, but what had really happened with Sturgis? Had he been abducted somehow and someone had been put in his place? Polyjuice Potion? Imperius Curse? A Metamorphmagus? Yes, they were extremely rare, but if the Order had one in its midst, who was to say that the Death Eaters did not? Furthermore, what if the Death Eaters knew who they were? What if the Order was not a step ahead of them as they had thought? What if soon they all would begin to be taken, one by one, as it had happened the last time? Would there be a next target? Who would it be? However, of one thing they all remained sure, they could not stop fighting and they would not stop fighting.

The following week went by with the Order members being extra careful with every task that was somehow related to the organisation. Prophecy shifts were took over with extreme caution with some sort of disguise or under an invisibility cloak and not before a security question or two being asked to make sure that whoever was assuming the position was indeed who was supposed to. Messages were sent only after being certain that the Order member in question was alone and it could not be tracked, under no circumstances any confidential information were to be put in it, in case the message ended up being intercepted, at least they all still had their patronuses to communicate. The worst of all is that Tonks had to clench her teeth and ignore the comments of some of her Auror colleagues, on how great was the Minister's choice for the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"Reckon she'll be a good teacher," said Scrimgeour.

"And if she's not," replied Dawlish, "what harm will it do? Minister says it's not like they need to be trained for combat, right?"

They both laughed and Tonks took in a deep breath. _For the safety of the secret_, she would repeat to herself every single time as a mantra.

Luckily, at least, Rufus had lessened his interrogatory to her and Kingsley; now, she would keep her distance to both of them, they could not take the smallest chance of them finding out about the Order of the Phoenix.

Remus spent the entire length of his days somewhere in the countryside of Scotland, he knew by now that a pack of werewolves was living nearby, but until now he had been unable to tell the exact location they were. New footprints and scratches were found by him every day at spot he had been just the day before, but not a single one of them was seen by him. Where on Earth were they hiding? It felt as though he had search the entire country without meeting a single living lycanthrope, every cavern, every grotto, every lair and every den. Nothing. If he could not find them at the end of this month without the Wolfsbane Potion as he had planned two months ago, he would have no choice, but to be forced to declare his failure to the headmaster. As important as it was to have more recruits to their side, he would have to admit that they could not bring the werewolves to the Order's side of the war due to the simple fact that Remus John Lupin could not locate them. Pathetic.

On that specific Thursday night, the meeting would start late, with Dumbledore now busy also running the Hogwarts School, he could no longer afford to be out at any time of the day, late at night was the one in which it was most likely for none of the teachers nor the students to need his council at any matter.

The minute she stepped inside the Grimmauld Place, Lupin knew she was there. No, it had nothing to do with her energetic voice filling the air, greeting all the members enthusiastically, nor with the usual sound of the umbrella stand being knocked down, triggering Mrs. Black's portrait and every single painting in the headquarters, muffling her desperate apologies. No, two days before the moon reached its full, it had to do with his werewolf senses nearly as sharpened as possible and that familiar scent filling his nostrils, vanilla, cream and cherry. It was her, it was Tonks. From deep down, he was reminded of a different name, not the given name she disliked so much, a nickname, in truth: Dora. He vaguely remembered a male voice saying it, but who was it? Oh, right, a fair-haired young man, over fifteen years ago, her father. Though, it was not only him, there was someone else... _Charles_. It seemed that not many were allowed to call her by it and he could feel the animal in him begging to be included in the tiny circle of people with permission to address to her by it. Well, it did not mean he could not call her by it, she just did not have to know. With it came a feeling he was, by now, familiar with, he needed to protect her. He could feel the wolf inside of him struggling to get out and almost hear its howl, so very protective of her as well. When he thought he knew all that was there to be known about werewolves, came a girl to his life, barely starting her adult years and threw his world upside down. Why on Earth was he so damn protective of her?

The grin she shot him the instant their eyes met, made him wish he had it all to himself, that no one else was allowed to see her lips curled that way and he felt disgusted with himself, he offered a small smile back and hurried to take his seat. But why? Why did she have to follow him and sit right beside him? A voice in the back of his mind was telling him that after so many afternoons together, keeping Sirius company, the three of them had taken the custom of sitting beside each other for quite a while now, a voice he chose to ignore, almost as if he could blame her for it all, instead of himself. Repugnant, to say the least. He would never like the way he could feel himself becoming an animal this close to the full moon. During all those lonely years, he would always hide himself from pretty much every human being, lock himself in his house and try in vain to suppress the monster inside of him. The monster he would always do his best to shut, to pretend that he could live a normal life, but the creature would never fail to make him recall what he truly was.

The meeting went just like scheduled, reports were being given, alternatives approaches were being chosen, no different from any of the ones they had had in the past month, until a patronus erupted right in the middle of the kitchen. A large winged horse almost the same size of a hippogriff, in fact, so big that it did not fit between the ceiling and the wooden table and Tonks had to restrain herself from looking under it to check if the horse's paws were indeed there. Bill Weasley, who had littered the table with rolls of parchment with plans of the Ministry's underground to check if there was an unconventional route the members could take to minimise the odds of being caught, looked at it almost as if his life depended on it, the reason was clear when it spoke with a French voice, one they all had become somewhat used to hear in the past year, Madam Maxime's, the headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

"Dumbly-dorr, 'Agrid and I finished our mission. We know we zould 'ave been back before, but we were only able to complete now. I am going back to France, but 'e eez 'eading back 'ome, might take a longer way. I'm zure 'e will tell you all when 'e arrives. 'Ope you are well."

"They should have been back by now?" questioned Bill, his features quite less crossed with angst as the winged horse disappeared.

Dumbledore nodded and for some minutes not another word was spoken. Very few of them were aware of the mission the headmaster had assigned Hagrid and Madam Maxime, but a single thought was crossing everyone's minds at that moment, if they should have been back by now, what had happened?

"No reasons to fret, I am sure," announced Dumbledore. "Not a word in Olympe's message suggests that Hagrid is hurt or that they have had some problem along the way. Soon enough, he will have joined us in our late night missions," he finished with a genuine smile and the members allowed themselves to breathe again. If the headmaster was not worried about Hagrid's situation, why should they? A few of them adjusted themselves in their seats, trying to take him out of their thoughts and regain some sort of comfort before they resumed the topic they had been discussing before the patronus interrupted them.

"So, where were we?" the headmaster asked to no one in particular. "Yes! William?"

Bill took a moment to recall what he had been saying before the shinning winged horse burst through the place.

"Right... Yeah, so, I think we ought to use this route." He pointed to the map, a different, longer and more complicated way that would lead them to the Hall of Prophecy. "Been abandoned for years, I reckon we shouldn't have any problem there."

Dumbledore nodded, staring at the parchment for a moment.

"Very well. It does not mean, however, that we should put aside our precautions. They must be taken very seriously. Any of you wishes to speak a word on that matter?" His glance travelled through the table, but none of them made a move towards wishing to say something. "If anyone has any doubt, please, do address to William by the end of the meeting," he offered them a kind smile and Bill grinned at them, but the topic had been very well clarified previously. "Next report?"

Remus raised his hand. He felt he could no longer postpone the inevitable, he would have to let them all know that in two days, he would either have the location of the pack or desist on his quest. However, he should have foretold that she would surprise him once again, beside him, Tonks had raised her hand as well. For an instant, their eyes met and they wondered what the other would have to say to the Order, but it was soon replaced by a remembrance that they should let the other speak first.

"Oh, sorry," Remus brought down his hand and gestured for her to talk.

"No, go ahead," Tonks shook her head, lowering her arm. He had indeed raised his hand before her.

"Please," he asked with a reassuring nod.

She had opened her mouth to deny, but before she could say a word, another voice spoke up.

"If it's not too much trouble, the two of you could get the love games done with?" said Snape. "Some of us actually have something better to do than to hear to _this_."

Love games? But no, they were not a couple. They were most definitely not a couple. It was just a joke, right? Snape knew they were no more than just friends; the only plausible explanation was that he was mocking them, right? Everyone knew they were not together, right? Right? If their minds were not so busy wondering about the words chosen by their colleague, they would have seen the glare Sirius shot at the Potion's Master, but he merely smiled sarcastically to the Marauder.

"Thank you, Severus," the headmaster spoke up, looking at the two of them, requiring for one of them to start giving their report.

"I insist," pleaded Remus.

"Well," began Tonks, uncertain. "Three days ago, I overheard Dawlish," she paused, thinking if she should explain one more time that John Dawlish was the closest Auror to the Minister of Magic. However, Dumbledore nodded, smiling, letting her know they she should continued for he remembered very well who he was. "He was talking with Scrimgeour about ― Hm, about Umbridge and he said that Fudge said, his own words, 'they don't need to be trained in combat', like the Minister doesn't really care about the quality of the education the students will receive at Hogwarts."

"But that's outrageous!" yelped McGonagall, hearing a few murmurs of agreement from the other professors. "We must do something, Albus!"

Tonks could see a thin line upon the headmaster's jaw tightening as his blue eyes stared into hers. They all knew that the school meant everything to him, it really had a special place in his heart and it would always have. The Auror wondered if Dumbledore was trying to decide if what she had said was true or not. She swallowed hard, but held his gaze.

"And we will, Minerva," he let the professor know. "But what we will do needs to be carefully planned," he breathed deeply, finally looking away from Tonks, who let out the breath she had not noticed she had been holding. "Remus, if you please."

Lupin took his time to adjust himself in his seat and clear his throat before starting.

"I believe to be rather close on finding the location of the pack. For days now, I have been discovering new footprints, scratches and others alike in places that they were not the previous day. In fact, I'm quite surprise that I haven't at least stumbled across one of them. Sort of hard to believe that we have been basically in the same area, but we have yet to―"

"Remus?" interrupted Tonks, taking up some courage to look him in the eyes and the strength to keep her trace of thought once those piercing amber orbs were gazing into hers.

All the members had their faces turned to her. Rare was the time in which someone would stop another's report, comments were always held for when whoever was reporting, had finished.

"Yes?" he asked after a moment.

"Have you ―" she began, her voice uncharacteristically small; sometimes ― in truth, often ― she still found herself in some sort of need to prove herself to the Order, after all, what did they know about her? All her services to the organisation were no more than two or three shifts a week watching the prophecy or eavesdrop on her Auror colleagues to see if there was any new on what the Minister thought. For a second she wondered if she should indeed go on, what she had in mind would either be a silly and obviously wrong suggestion or an ingenious thought (and to her mind quite impossible that none of the members had seen the problem in his plan).

He looked into her eyes thinking what could possibly be going through hers at that moment. She had always be one to say her opinion, either it being on how many would be necessary to escort the kids to the King's Cross Station or that they would not need clouds to hide themselves in the sky. Why suddenly she had become so... insecure?

"Have you thought of looking for them _at night_?" she enquired, rather pleased for having finally voiced it. "You know, 'cause if you pass by a spot and there's nothing, but the next day there's a scratch, a footprint or whatever it is that wasn't there before... It could only have been done at night, right?"

Remus held his breath, he knew he must have been looking ridiculous staring with parted lips at her, but who would notice him when nearly every member of the Order of the Phoenix had their eyes upon her. Nevertheless, he could not stop himself from mentally punching himself, how could he have been so _stupid_? He had for so long tried to pretend he could live a normal life that he did not even stop to think, once he was given the mission, werewolves were indeed creatures of the night, how could he have let the immense flaw in his plan pass by?

Tonks swallowed hard as his eyes unfocused for a moment. She was completely aware of everyone's eyes upon her, but she did not dare to look away from him. They all have heard, for two whole months, Remus's reports, of course it must have been no more than twice that he should have mentioned the fact that he would spend the days and not the nights searching for the pack, but still she could feel the tension that such a small detail passed by them all.

"I ― I ― You're right," he finally broke the heavy silence. "I actually never had the chance to meet other lycans that I completely forgot they would... be more active during the night whilst in the wild." He took in a deep breath. "I'll return as soon as the meeting is over."

Snape snorted and Sirius gritted his teeth.

"Not a word, Snivellus!"

"As we're talking about this," Tonks re-started. "Don't you think that it'd be easier if there was a... bait? To lure them, I mean. They'd come after the bait, you could follow them to wherever they are hiding and once you were there, the bait would walk away," she finished matter-of-factly.

Remus furrowed his brows, taking a not so short moment whilst considering what she had just proposed.

"But the pack would certainly be distrustful," he pointed out. "A human showing up in the middle of the forest, nowhere near any civilization..."

"Not if it's the full moon."

"No," stated Lupin, loudly. "That's _too_ dangerous! A whole pack of full grown lycans against a single human being? That's not even something to be taken under consideration!"

"Why not?" retorted Tonks. "We just need the perfect bait."

"We don't have the perfect bait," indicated Eliphias. "We all know that Greyback prefers children."

Remus's teeth clenched, every single time he heard those words, memories would come rushing through his mind.

"We don't need a child," notified Tonks. "We just need someone who looks like one," a smile was tugging on the corner of her lips as they all looked at her, slowly comprehending what she had in mind from the beginning.

"By no means, Tonks!" pleaded Remus. "I cannot protect you from a whole pack even if I had Wolfsbane, since I don't―"

"I don't need protection," she attested. "I just need to hide up there, on the trees until morning. If something goes wrong, I'll become an animal, my scent would be covered and I'd be safe, they'd never get to me."

"You can't hold it for long, you said it yourself!"

"I just need a few minutes to climb a tree," she reminded him. "I'll be _completely_ safe at the top of the trees."

"Tonks ―"

"Lupin," Mad-Eye stopped him before Remus could have said another word, his tone was somewhat different from the one he usually had, almost as if he was ordering for him to pay attention. "That is indeed a very good plan and for the state things are going right now, I say we use it," he stopped for a moment, both his eyes were focused at him until now, when they moved to look at his protégée; by the corner of his eye, he was able to see Tonks steadily holding his gaze. "And if you don't trust that girl right there beside you to go and _hide_ herself, you won't trust a single soul in this room."

Tonks was nothing less than shocked with what Moody had just said. Yes, she knew how much he was aware of her capabilities, specially her disguise ones and she also knew how much he cared for her, but having him say it like that in front of the whole Order? Well, that was a blow to say the least. She took in a deep breath, gazing back at her mentor and trying to show Mad-Eye how thankful she was that he had spoke so high of her to them all.

Remus held his breath as Moody looked at her and slowly his eyes, too, drifted to look at Tonks, who was still holding her mentor's gaze firmly. Surely he knew about how Moody and Tonks cared for each other, but after, what he had just said, how could he turn to them all and say he still thought she should not go? He was also aware that no one became an Auror if they were not at least excellent, let alone become Mad-Eye Moody's protégée. But still... that overpowering feeling that he needed to protect her would not leave him and taking her with him during a full moon night to a forest where he was certain to have a pack of lycanthropes was everything but to keep her safe. However, in face of the recent events, he really saw no other way out and nodded at them, defeated.

Dumbledore, who had been looking from one to another, eventually stopped his gaze at glancing deeply into her eyes, he awaited her to look back at him and spoke.

"Nymphadora, do you understand the risks of this mission?"

"Yes," she breathed. "I do."

"Are you fully aware that you could get hurt, that Remus could get hurt and you, most likely, would not be able to aid him in any way?"

Remus? Getting hurt? And not being able to help him? But... She clenched her teeth and before they all could say that she took a moment longer to respond, she answered "Yes, I am."

"You do comprehend that there is a risk, and not exactly small, that you could be bitten and become a lycanthrope yourself?"

"Yes, I do," Which was certainly the easiest answer from the ones she gave him, that had been the first thought that had crossed her mind when she first thought of that plan.

"Excellent!" the headmaster smiled. "You two have been assigned with this mission. Full moon is two days from now and you have until there to prepare yourselves."

Two days? Remus shut his eyes closed. How were they supposed to get ready for this insane mission if they had less than forty-eight hours to prepare?

Her eyes widened as she remembered that she would not have those two days to prepare, the Ministry would find suspicious if she suddenly skipped two whole days of work, surely they would send someone after her.

"Don't worry," growled Mad-Eye, who had seen the look upon her face. "If that Auror Headquarters still has any dignity left, I get that covered for you. Still think they'd owe me a bit."

"Thanks," Tonks knew that her mentor, despite what everyone thought, was still viewed with a great deal of respect inside those walls. They would buy whatever excuse he decided to give for her absence.

Mad-Eye barely nodded in response and Dumbledore spoke.

"Does anyone else have any comment to make?" Seeing only heads being shaken around him, he clapped his hands once. "I now, end the meeting."

The sound of chairs being pushed aside and the murmur of the members who started to talk with each other began to fill the room. Mad-Eye found his way to Tonks and she got up, turning her back to the table and almost sitting on it, she smiled at him.

"You be careful."

"You know me, always am," she grinned.

"Don't you joke on me!" he growled. "You know how this things work, wand _always_ at hand. If your partner tells you to run, you _run_! If he tells you to go away and leave him behind that's _exactly_ what you'll do!"

"Yeah, about that..." Tonks frowned. "I still have some problems on talking with werewolves, bit hard to interpret what they mean when they howl, y'know. Though, if you have any tips, I'll be glad to hear," she finished using all her strength not to burst out laughing, but it became easier when she saw him glaring at her.

"Just stay out of their way," hinted Mad-Eye. "And great pain, that should do the trick to keep them away."

"Not gonna _Cruciate_ him!" protested Tonks.

"_Fiendfyre_ him then, or _Incendiate_."

"You've _really_ lost your mind if you think I ―"

"Your own safety always comes first!"

"And how does burning down the forest will keep me safe?"

"It'll give you the second you need to disapparate."

"Fine," she lied. "I'll do it," She could not help but to think that killing him would me more merciful than to leave him burning there, not that she would ever do either.

"Remember, constant vigilance," he reminded before limping away.

"How could I forget?" she winked.

Across the room, after speaking with Dumbledore for a minute before the headmaster left, Snape was passing by Remus towards his way to the door.

"Well, well, Lupin, saved by the girl who barely stopped using nappies, weren't you?"

"Better than to be saved by the guy you hate the most," Sirius pointed out, standing from his chair.

"Bit hard for _you_ to know, isn't it?" Snape's brows furrowed slightly. "One must be out there to be saved and you... are hiding here, for how long now?"

Snape started to look disgusted at the room around him when Sirius made a move to reach him. Remus stood up and grasped his arms to prevent him from jumping on Snape and start punching every inch he could reach of the Potion's Master.

"Don't, Pads," he warned him. "Calm down."

"Lemme go, Moony!"

"However, I'd certainly need to think about that, my rival still being a strong man and all..."

"Well, don't think too hard, Snape," said Tonks coming to stand beside Sirius when Moody finally left. "We eat here, you see, wouldn't want this place to stink," she raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. "Also if you're an arse-bandit, don't blame 'em for rather being saved by a girl, all right?"

Sirius's bark-like laugh filled the room as Remus continued to restrain him, but now, his eyes were staring at Tonks as if trying to decide if he had indeed heard what he thought he did. Snape, on the other hand, glanced at her for a long minute.

"If said girl was able to, at least, walk through a corridor without breaking something, I could consider the hypothesis of letting her save me," he was out the door before any of them could think of something to reply.

Tonks glanced at the door Snape just passed through, her eyebrows quite furrowed. She was able of walking through a corridor without breaking something, of course more often than not she would trip over the most unlikely furniture, but indeed she could.

"Moony," came Sirius voice as a warning and Remus was brought back, setting his best friend free. He had to admit, that girl was cheeky. "You shouldn't have held me."

"You'd've missed the best part," Tonks reminded him.

"Arse-bandit... James'd have definitely approved of it," Her cousin inhaled deeply looking at her, for an instant she wondered if what crossed his features was pride, but before she could have got to a conclusion, he pulled her to a tight hug. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not that I recall," she joked, wrapping her arms around him.

"Yeah, so much we could make you an Honorary Marauder," announced Sirius, letting her go. "What d'you think, Moony?"

"She's got potential," answered Remus, letting out a small chuckle, "but we did have an agreement of not taking girls. Sorry, Tonks."

"Think I'll manage it," she shrugged with a slight tilt of her head.

"Oh yeah, right," remembered Sirius. "That day Prongs tried to bring Lily in... was a mess!"

"We all stood against him," Remus told her.

"And every time Peter ended up with a girl," Sirius laughed. "Would think she was the most special of all!"

"Luckily, it wasn't you!" exclaimed Remus. "Otherwise we'd have admitted every girl in the school."

Tonks joined Sirius and she, too, started laughing.

"I'd never have wanted 'em all to join," Sirius replied. "They'd never have left me alone again!"

As their laughter subsided, Tonks hit Remus lightly upon his ribs.

"So, you and I got some planning to do."

Remus took in a deep breath. For a short moment he had been able to forget about the dangerous task ahead of them, the dangerous task he had agreed on putting her through and of one thing he was sure, he did not like to be reminded.

"Oh, right."

"If you don't have problems with a bit of mess," she began, "I can offer my place," Tonks was fully aware of her flat's state when she left it on that morning, several hours ago, but well, they really needed to start working, otherwise they would not be prepared to face the werewolves a couple of nights from now.

"Given the state of the house I've been living in for the previous months, I think you can find the answer for that yourself," grinned Remus, getting a sheepish smile from her, one he did not recall ever seeing upon her face and once again, wishing he had her smile all for himself, he could nearly hear the creature in him howling in delight.

"Glad to know I'd have made my mother proud," mocked Sirius, however neither of the other two offered him any sign that they had heard.

A part of Remus insisted upon telling him that going to a girl's flat at this late hour was not the right decision, but what could he offer her in return? His own house was practically abandoned for two whole months, certainly full of dust, if only, at this point. Sirius would most likely hang around them and very little progress would have been made if the two of them stayed at the Headquarters; not that he would have minded, but since they had no more than two days to prepare, they really needed to focus. Thus, he raised his left hand, indicating the way towards the kitchen's door still smiling back at her. "After you."

Tonks's gaze slowly fell to his hand. When was the last time someone had done something so... chivalrous to her? Had it even happened before? She could not remember. Should she thank him? Or simply walk as if it was not a big deal? Would he think less of her if she demonstrated such insecurity on not knowing how to act? Of course he would! What kind of girl did not know how to react when a man was courteous towards her? She offered him a curt nod and started to walk, however, Merlin knows how, her left foot got stuck on the chair's foot and by domino effect, tumbling another two.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," she apologised standing to her feet with Sirius helping her.

"Don't worry," he tranquilised her.

With a simple flick of his wand, Remus had put the chairs back up.

"Thanks," she said, grateful, before turning to her cousin. "Cheers!"

"See you, Sirius," Remus nodded.

"Later."

Tonks and Remus walked their way to the door. A good stroll until they reached a desert alley was what she had in mind, a few minutes not working, but they would certainly be bonding. However, the London weather had other plans. The moment she opened the door, a cool breeze hit her face and she knew her idea had been ruined.

"Piddling it down," she remarked.

"Yeah..." said Remus, half-closing his eyes to protect them against the few drops of rain that were getting to his face as he closed the door behind him, standing on the last step.

Quite upset for having the weather blowing up her plans, she shrugged slightly and whilst smiling and listening to Sirius magically close the many locks on the door, she offered her hand to side-apparate him and, for a second time, he was more than jubilant to take it.


	15. 14 The Scottish Forest

**A/N:** Hi, everyone! I've finished this chapter long ago, but I don't have internet at my house because of some technical problems. -sigh- I hope it'll be over soon. So, here I am at my aunt's house at Christmas Eve publishing this for ya and I really hope you like it! ^_^ I'll try to put the next one on New Year's, I've already started it, but I can't make any promises ... For the ones of you who are also reading By My Side, I already have it finished, but I don't have it here with me to upload, so I promise you that tomorrow will be up!

Thank you once more for your awesome reviews and I'll love you if you leave your thoughts on this chapter down there. Merry Christmas! Or whatever it is that you celebrate!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 14: The Scottish Forest<strong>

Tonks Apparated them directly to the door of her flat, Remus remained quiet as she opened the door, absorbing his surroundings. The corridor had a dirty white upon its walls, several pieces of paint were missing here and there; surely, the building was more than just a few years old. With a low click the maroon door swung open and excusing himself, he stepped inside as she lit some candles motioning her wand. The light illuminated the drawing-room and he could see pieces of clothes, literally, everywhere, a skirt upon her small couch, a jumper lying on her round table, at least three T-shirts were in his field of view, a single trainer was near an overthrow chair and Merlin knew where its match lied. Tons of parchment rolls were upon the tiny coffee table, an ink bottle had tumbled, staining most of them.

'Tell me, Tonks,' he began. 'What is precisely your definition of "a bit"?' A teasing smile playing on the corner of his lips as he looked down to see her flushed cheeks.

'Not exactly this,' she answered with a chuckle before hurrying to put the chair back up and clear some room on the table. 'You can put your cloak and coat there, on the right― Sorry, your left. Yeah, there,' she added, smiling as he started to remove his cloak and coat. Throwing the jumper and the T-shirt that lied on one of the chairs, on the couch; she pulled one of the chairs and smiled at him. 'Make yourself at home.'

Walking towards her after hanging his clothes, Remus offered her a smile. 'Thank you.'

'Do you want to drink something?' she asked, glancing at the kitchen. 'Cup of tea? I actually have a few Butterbeers left if you want...?'

'No,' he replied, shaking his head lightly. 'A cup of tea would be lovely.'

Tonks hurried to the kitchen, putting the kettle upon the cooker and having the water boiling with a flick of her wand. In a minute she had headed back with a couple of mugs filled up to the top with the finest black tea her mother had sent her about a month ago.

'Do you take something in your tea?' she questioned. 'Milk? Actually, I think I'm out of milk ... and cream ... Sugar?' she added, hopefully.

Remus closed his eyes kindly, raising his hand to get the mug from her.

'I'm sure it's divine the way it is.'

She glanced at him as she put it in his hand, wondering if he indeed did not take anything in his tea or if it was the lack of ingredients in her home that made him deny them, in any case, there was nothing she could do about it anyway.

'Forgot to stop at the market ... So, tell me,' asked Tonks, throwing herself on the chair beside his and nearly spilling some of her tea. 'What do you know about the mission until now?'

'Um...' He cleared his throat, warming his hands around the hot mug. 'Not much. For starters, it isn't a very large pack. Otherwise I would have met at least one of them, even during the day, I mean, it isn't as though they sleep all day or just sit doing nothing. So, it can't have too many members. In not being a large pack, I do not believe it is Greyback's, his pack certainly is a very large one.'

Tonks took a sip of her tea, but was spitting it out less than a second later. She opened her mouth gasping for air.

'Too hot!' she informed, swallowing hard. Of course she had to go and get her tongue burnt right now, of course.

Remus watched her for a minute as she evened her breathing, wondering if he should do something to help her, but before he could figure out what to do, she spoke.

'So, we don't need a kid?' she managed to ask, gesturing that she was better.

'No...' he answered after a short instant. 'We don't need a kid, you can disguise yourself with whatever you prefer,' he offered her a genuine smile. 'The punk teen even.'

Tonks rubbed the back of her neck, chuckling.

'I might.'

'There is also this―' Remus re-started only to be soon interrupted by her again.

'Wait!' she drew out her wand and covering the whole room, she casted a Silencing Charm.

'Oh, right,' wide eyes showed her that the protections had not crossed his mind either. 'There's this glade where I think they stay― there are a few glades actually, but this one is the most likely for their ... habitation to be. I'll show you tomorrow, I'll take you there and show you what I've discovered until now.'

'All right,' she smiled, only now daring to take another sip of her tea and realising it was finally in a decent temperature to be drunk; Remus seeing she had not burnt herself again, tasted it before offering her a reassuring nod towards the tea in his hand. Tonks smiled at him rather proud that she had been able to produce something that could be eaten by someone that was not herself and still manage to not pour it upon her guest. Though, tea was not exactly eaten, was it? No, it was not. A drink, that was it. Drunk should have been the word, yes, definitely a better word. My good Godric how did she ramble! She blinked twice, looking at him. 'At ten?'

'We have a good amount of work to do, Nymphadora, we canno―'

_Merlin! ... It slipped._

'_Don't_ call me Nymphadora, Remus!' she complained, frowning and leaning slightly towards him.

'Forgive me, _Tonks_.'

'That's better,' she replied nonchalantly still sipping her tea, but not looking directly at him.

'Either way,' he continued as if the interruption had not happened. 'Ten o'clock is much too late. What about eight?'

'_Eight?_ Are you _insane_?' asked Tonks with wide eyes. 'Come on, Remus, it's past midnight and we'll be talking here 'til late. Least you can do is gimme a few hours to actually sleep. Half past nine.'

There was a side of him that caught the layer in her tone that indicated she did not want to be there talking with him and much preferred to be sleeping in her bed, the same side that looked away from her and just to occupy himself took another sip of the beverage in his hands. Of course, who would want a werewolf inside their home until an ungodly hour after all? However, the wolf in him, somehow, clung to the way she seemed eager to meet him once more in the next morning and he grinned back at her. 'Quarter to nine,' he offered. 'I can go no further.'

Tonks rolled her eyes, letting out her breath.

'Fine.' She shrugged. 'Nine it is.'

'Quarter to nine, Tonks,' retorted Remus.

'That's what I said,' she whined. 'Nine!'

A crooked smile tugged the corner of his lips as he watched her eyebrows furrow and her tongue pop out her mouth directly to him just like a little child complaining at her parents. He realised she would not have to put her under a lot of effort to behave like one if the Order ever requested her to morph into a child.

'Fine,' he backed down. 'Have it your way ... Anyhow, the footprints are circling a rather big area―'

'Wait! Are they transformed footprints or untransformed ones?' she did not even wait for his reply. 'Don't answer that, it's stupid, 'course they're untransformed ones, you can't chose when to transform...'

'Both actually ... They must be keeping guard nearby...'

For a good while, Remus explained to her everything he had discovered, it would have unquestionably lasted less than the two hours if Tonks had not kept disrupting his trace of thought every single time she perceived a bit to be quite more interesting than usual, leading to a superfluous question. However, she carried on asking for there was something about his voice that fascinated her, something she recalled to have always captivated her, being her toddler self or her adult one. She had yet to find someone to enthral her the same way, perhaps it was its hoarse tone or maybe the steady pace he sustained, as if he knew all the words he would say, as though he had planned it all before. The questions were no more than a way to remind herself to keep paying attention to the content of his say.

At five to two, Remus stood up, having let her know everything he could without actually showing her. They said their goodbyes and she smiled before eyeing the door.

'You can Disapparate here,' she informed him. 'It's actually safer, no one would see you.'

'You really think so?' he frowned slightly; he had always found that disappearing from someone's house would show a lack of politeness as much as appearing inside of it. 'You really don't mind?' he asked again and, seeing her shook her head, he agreed. 'I'll see you tomorrow.'

'See ya,' he heard her say before he appeared at the last step of the Grimmauld Place.

Remus tiptoed towards his room, taking care on every corner not to make any noise that would wake Sirius's mother and by consequence, Sirius himself. Inside his room, he changed to his pyjamas and got under the covers, trying to retain the excitement that started to fill him. They would have the whole day for themselves; of course they would be on duty for the Order, but still, the perspective of spending an entire day in her company ... was making his stomach twist in anticipation. As much as he knew he needed to sleep so he would be able to enjoy the next day to its fullest, he could not stop his mind from wondering at every little thing they would do. He would Apparate her to the glade he was used to materialise himself every morning, show her the scratches that could have only been made by a transformed werewolf, walk her around the forest, showing every single thing he had just told her. He smiled and then ... lunch. Should they go back here and eat? Perhaps her flat would be the best choice, but something told him that it would most certainly not be ... If she did not have milk to put in the tea would she have a decent meal? Definitely not. Not if she had forgotten to stop at the market. That was a problem he was glad he had thought of before they suddenly found themselves starving at the forest. Wait, what if...?

He tiptoed back to the first floor and into the kitchen, Remus found a basket in the pantry and began to fill it with a few Butterbeers, a bit of his mind telling him that he should not drink whilst in duty for the Order, but honestly, how much of alcohol did a bottle of Butterbeer really possess? He made two sandwiches for each of them, making sure to put a grilled gammon in hers and in his, the nearly raw meat he had seen set aside in the kitchen, possibly what Kreacher had in mind to be tomorrow's lunch, but well, this close to the full moon, he much rather have his meat as near to its natural state as possible. Finally, he made his way back to his bedroom and his mind was able to drift into a sleeping state at last.

The next morning, Tonks was awakened by three clear knocks on her door. Unwillingly, her eyelids opened slightly and she saw the clock on her bedside table showing it was precisely nine o'clock in the morning.

_Oh, crap!_

She sat on her bed at once, donning the jeans she had thrown beside her bed last night and the brand new pair of boots Charlie had gifted her.

'Just a second!' she called as she grabbed the first clean T-shirt she saw in her wardrobe and hurried to the toilet, poorly brushing her teeth and running out of the room a minute later to get a couple of toasts she had made two days before opening her door grinning. 'Wotcher, Remus!'

'Good morning, M―' a warning glare from the girl before him made him stop and correct himself. 'Tonks.' He smiled. 'Breakfast?' he asked, eyeing her half-eaten toasts.

'Yeah,' she answered, taking another bite. 'You wan'?'

'Ahn, no, thank you,' he replied, shaking his head. 'I'll await you to finish and―'

'Oh, no, come on,' she denied, stepping out of her flat. 'What's that?' she asked, taking another bite and looking at the basket in his hand.

'Um, I took the liberty of preparing us some lunch,' he informed her. 'I hope you don't mind.'

'That depends on your cooking abilities,' she grinned.

'It would be better if I let it for you to decide.'

'Can't wait 'til lunchtime then,' she tossed the last bit of her toasts in her mouth.

'Shall we?' he offered his free arm for her to take, which she took smiling.

The instant their feet touched the ground, Tonks lost her balance and almost fell down; luckily, she had been holding his arm and he helped her regain it with his fast reflexes, otherwise she would have ended up with her face upon the grass. Had not the wind been chilling and singing as it swung the leaves, the forest would have been as silent as ever, there was barely the sound of birds singing, something Remus noted to be most likely due to the pack of werewolves living nearby, very few animals would approach the area.

Time flew by as they walked around the forest together. She realised he had been walking slower and seemed much weaker than usual, Tonks wondered how bad could the transformation be if it was having such effect on his body before it actually happened. Soon they had reached the area where most of the footprints were, but unfortunately, London was not the only place where rain decided to fall hence, the glade was covered by lama and consequently, the footprints were gone. Remus sighed in slight sorrow as he realised that there was practically nothing that could be of any use for her. However, he was still able to spot a few pieces of footprints here and there protected by some tree's leaves to prove her that he was not wrong, not that she had doubted him, after all for two whole months she had heard his reports for the Order, he did not strike to her as the lying kind, besides, it really seemed pointless and toilsome to come up with all those facts instead of saying the truth. Lupin, however, felt as though he had to show her every little progress he had made since the first day he Apparated between those trees.

'Rather big, aren't they?' asked Tonks.

'Yeah, not really sure about the size of the ones here...' Remus wondered if she had ever indeed seen a transformed werewolf and his stomach twisted unpleasantly. He knew he would scare the daylights out of her with his transformation alone, she would definitely hate him by the time his shouts of pain were replaced by howls, by the time his skin began to be ripped apart by himself and was replaced by a much rough one, covered in fur. He swallowed hard, focusing his eyes on his own feet. He hoped she would be able to put up with him until morning because he would surely need her to Disapparate; after a night like the one he was about to have, he would not have the strength to do it by himself without Splinching.

He watched as she took off one of her boots followed by a bright yellow sock and placed her petit foot upon half of a footprint, despite it not being whole, it surely had at least the double of the size of her foot. Remus wanted to tell her to back off, tell her that it was anything but safe to go on with this insane mission, but he knew he could not. All he could indeed do was push away all the images about the wolf in him breaking her skin and drawing out the last drop of blood in her, until there was nothing big enough to be sent to her parents, push away the image of the wolf in him, tearing up her limbs with its fangs and enjoying the taste of her blood within his mouth, push away it all and smile at her.

The sun was already up in the sky and he did not know for how long he would be able to keep himself from not telling her to quit the mission, he needed a distraction, he needed a break.

'Lunch?'

'Sure!' she grinned at him, sitting on a nearby root to put her sock and boot back on.

Remus prepared a spot where mud had not covered it all and placed a towel to cover it. Soon, she had ran towards him and lay prone on the towel, she watched as he got a Butterbeer and handed it to her, getting another for himself before checking if the sandwich he had was not one with a raw beef in it and handing it to her. He made no comment at the slight frown she offered him as he checked the meat.

'Do not be afraid of hurting my feelings.' He offered her a fake smile as she opened it. _They'll be hurt in two days either way_, he thought with himself.

Tonks raised her brows, biting her lip in anticipation. Remus did not even catch his sandwich from the basket, just watching as she took a bite of it and only smiled when she closed her eyes, letting out a moan.

'My 'oodness, Remus!' she started chewing really fast as she tried to open the two breads before swallowing. 'Wot di'you put in 'ere?'

He chuckled in relief, rubbing the back of his neck.

'Grilled gammon and cheese, a couple of tomato slices, but the special touch is ... mayonnaise,' he grinned. 'Gets a bit ... wet, I'd say.'

'Congratulations, you're a wonderful chef,' she smiled, drinking from her Butterbeer. 'You're allowed to cook for me whenever you want.'

'Good,' he replied after swallowing and eyeing the basket. 'Because there are still a couple here that we can have for dinner later on,' he suggested, 'unless you're famish right now and rather have another.'

'No,' she shook her head, chewing and placing her hand in front of her mouth. 'Dinner,' she stated, 'Definitely!'

The wolf within him, howled happily at the apparent bliss she let out at the mere fact they would have dinner together later. He sharpened a deep breath trying to concentrate on eating instead of letting the wolf take control, but something else claimed his attention, he rapidly ran his eyes around the glade as a few sounds of drops of rain falling got to his ears. He threw his poorly closed Butterbeer along with his half-eaten sandwich in the basket and was up half a minute later offering his hand to help her up.

'Come on,' he called, but seeing the puzzled look she offered him, he explained. 'Starting to rain.'

Tonks looked around, still not seeing any sign of rain around them.

'You sure?'

'Positive,' he answered. 'Do you want to wait until...?'

'Not really,' Tonks shook her head before feeling a drop of rain on her forearm and letting him help her up. Remus got the towel from the ground and put it inside the basket unceremoniously.

'There's a grotto not far from here,' he informed her, pointing in the direction of it. Seeing her nod, he started to run with her on his heels.

The rain began to fall at the same rate as they ran, when they finally reached the grotto Remus had mentioned, their clothes and their hair were somewhat wet. They dried themselves with their wands and went deeper into the grotto, hoping the rain would not last for long so they could soon, re-start their jobs. Extending the towel again, Remus sat and she promptly joined him, taking another bite.

'It won't take long, I expect,' she commented.

'Sincerely doubt it,' said Remus, looking outside.

'Sooo pessimist,' grinned Tonks.

'Realistic,' he corrected her.

'Doubt it,' she mimicked him, eyeing her sandwich.

Remus could not help but to grin back at her. How was she able to get to him so easily? Anyhow, he knew that when it started raining this heavily, chances were it would last for a while.

'Hope it doesn't rain like that tomorrow night, though,' she tossed the last piece of her sandwich in her mouth.

'Werewolves prefer a hotter weather in general,' alerted Remus. 'I really hope it doesn't, but it probably will.'

'Aw, come on!' whined Tonks. 'I was about to congratulate you for actually hoping for something good to happen. Are you forbidden to have hope by some bigger werewolf law or something? Jeez!'

'No…' Remus bashfully looked down to the last bit of his sandwich. 'I hope for a lot of good things to happen,' he stated.

'Yeah? Like what?'

'Like everything going right tomorrow,' he stated. 'Like―' he had just been about to say that he wished she would not get hurt, but something stop him, he was not entirely sure of what, but he felt as though he should not continue.

But of course a curious girl like Tonks would not let it die.

'Like…?'

'Like…' Remus wished more than ever that his brain's fast logic to always think of a way out of a situation would not let him down this time and thankfully, he recalled what he had said not many minutes ago. 'Like not raining tomorrow night.'

'But you just said that you don't think it'll happen,' she replied rolling her eyes. 'I meant like _really _wishing it will happen. Like, so hard, that you end up believing it will actually happen!'

Remus let out a small chuckle, his eyes fondly glancing at her as she gazed back at him, her brown orbs holding a clear layer of determination.

'Wishing won't make it happen, Tonks,' he stated. 'No matter how hard.'

'Ugh!' she groaned, rolling on her back. 'You're hopeless!'

'Now, who's being hopeless?' he teased.

Tonks gritted her teeth, despite still grinning.

'All right then.' She sat down, crossing her legs. When she spoke, her tone was perfectly steady, but still quite playful. 'I'll make you have some hope for the future, even if it's the last thing I do.' The curt nod, she offered him evidenced more determination than he had ever seen in her eyes.

Somehow, Remus doubted she could stop the rain by just wishing it would go away, but he found himself answering 'I can't wait,' with a smile tugging the corner of his lips.

'Do you want go to your place tomorrow?' she wondered knowing very well that her flat was not the best place to work.

'Actually, I rather if we stick with one place,' he explained. 'Makes it easier if we have it all in one place, you see. Besides, I haven't been to my house in a while, living at the Headquarters ... The Lupin Bungalow,' he smiled at the way his mother used to take pride on that name whatever was the house they had moved in, 'it's most likely not decent for us to work.'

'Oh, all right,' Tonks stood on her feet. 'Stopped raining already. See?' She took the last sip of her Butterbeer and gestured for him to hand her his before pointing her wand to them. '_Evanesco_!' The bottles disappeared instantly and she offered her hand to help him up. For a moment, Lupin hesitated, he helping her up was one thing, she did not weight a ton and he most definitely did not wish for her to have to burden him, but he saw no way out and let her help him.

'Thanks.' He folded the towel neatly and kept it inside the basket before following her outside.

Whilst Remus found his toes wet as they re-started to walk, Tonks was more than glad to have picked her new boots and not the old ones, not that she had made any actual conscious choice towards them, but having the waterproof ones on, certainly was helpful. The chill weather kicked in as Remus continued to show her the forest. Not all now was related to his knowledge towards the werewolves living there, but where there were caves, grottos and glades, all kind of information she could use the next day when they would be trying to get the other lycanthropes to take Remus to where they were stationed. Occasionally, he would Apparate them to a more distant area, where he had found some distinct discoveries. However, as he had alerted her, it was definitely best to keep the magical use to a minimum; werewolves who lived in the wild, tended to have a natural dislike of wizards, which counted as a disadvantage to both the Order and the Death Eaters.

Tonks's Auror instincts came out as she absorbed the big amount of information, analysing every little thing that would work both against and in favour of her in the potential battle field. Certainly the numerous stones, roots and the uneven ground would be anything but cooperative to her clumsiness, she really hoped she would be able to keep it under control, the last thing they needed was to have her becoming a lycanthrope as well due to the simple fact that she tripped over a tree root. All her hopes of getting the Order to believe that she was indeed useful would be gone in a split second.

Night began to fall and Tonks suggested that they called it a day and headed back to her flat to reanalyse what else they had gathered, none of them had the slightest desire to blow up the mission twenty-four hours earlier, so they went back. Dinner went as smoothly as lunch, laughter and light-hearted conversation filled the room as they appreciated one more appetising meal. Then, lots of rolls of parchment littered Tonks's table as they drew the forest's map; carefully, they would study the different areas, taking note of everything they would remember. It was not until their watches beeped midnight that they perceived how fast time had passed. They said their good-byes with the promises of meeting again and great meals prepared by him.

As they lay in bed that night, they could not stop their minds from wondering how it could be so easy to stay around each other, how easy it was to simply be their true selves around each other. Their mere presence would bring silly grins to their faces, the kind of grin that you do not wish it to ever leave and is still there when you wake up.

Morning came and after a not very restful night, precisely at nine in the morning, Remus Lupin was once again knocking on Nymphadora Tonks's door, but this time she had been awakened by anxiety, hours before, and could not wait until he arrived. She smiled wide at the sight of him when she opened the door, shabby robes as always, but smiling and with another basket filled with scrumptious sandwiches.

Poring above their maps and notes, they spent the morning deciding which was the best spot to start, the best place for him to turn and the place for her to hide. Every minute was carefully planned; she would climb a tree and wait until he had fully transformed far away, to climb down and try to lure the others to where Remus would be. He could not help but to notice how many variables there were in this plan, so many things could go wrong that for a moment he considered asking her to give up again and let him go by himself, but he knew she was far too much like Sirius, that Black blood would never back down for a chance to go wrong, however big it was.

'We cannot start here!' pointed out Tonks. 'This is that _bumpy_ area! I'd kill myself before the beginning!'

'It's not,' retorted Remus, calmly. 'You are mistaking it by this one,' he pointed on the map he had drawn the day before, a very similar area, also with a glade and a cave nearby.

'I'm not!' she exclaimed. 'This is where you showed me the first footprints, we have to start near here.'

'No, Tonks, the scratches are there,' he tilted his head to her area, 'but the footprints are here.'

'Do you wanna go check?' she questioned with a clear layer of challenge in her tone.

'Absolutely,' he replied offering his hand to Disapparate them.

The next instant they were within the forest and Tonks crossed her arms over her chest as he was instantly proven right.

'Guess this isn't the bumpy area after all...' she admitted, kicking a small stone.

As much as his inner Marauder loved to be proven right against Sirius or any of the others, Remus had just found out a distinction between her and his best friend, he indubitably hated to see her lose. He found himself out of comforting words to say to her and approached her, smiling apologetically. She nodded and they went back to her flat.

The day passed by pleasantly as they took their decisions to what was best to each option. A couple more times they found themselves back at the forest just to make sure their annotations were correct and take away some last doubts. Happily, to both of them, Tonks was proven right in both occasions. As night approached, excitement and anxiety grew inside them in equal proportions; enthusiasm for finally being able to get to the action part of their assignment and apprehension at the possibility of anything going wrong.

Tonks came out of her room with the appearance of a woman, not many years older than her true self, donning brand new jeans and her old pair of boots, a light green sweater under a dark coat; her hair and her eyes had a powerful tone of midnight black; she had a longer nose and her chin and cheeks were quite thinner. She cleared her throat to indicate to the man with his back to her, leaning on the wall, that she was ready.

Remus had been constantly twisting his hands nervously, feeling more and more the animal in him begging to come out, but with one look towards her ... for one brief moment, it all seemed to fit. Many years had gone by since he had last seen Andromeda, but he immediately thought that her features resembled her mother's, except she would never be seen in such clothes.

'You look...' he paused for an instant, watching as she began to smile, searching for the right word, but none seemed to describe her perfectly so, he decided to go with a safe and friendly compliment, '...good.'

'Thanks,' her tone politely as she stepped forwards. _Good? I'm probably such a bizarre sight that you couldn't think of something decent to say, right? _'Not really the punk teen, but I wanted to feel comfortable.' And well, the old lady from their last mission was anything but comfortable.

Tonks walked towards him, adjusting the leather strings of her wand-holster upon her right forearm and stumbled, overthrowing a vase Rachel had sent her. Remus caught the vase and placed it back to where it previously was, surprised it had not broken.

She thanked him once again, pulling her sleeves back down. She looked at him, placing her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, even though her eyes still kept the energetic twinkle Remus came to know, anyone would be able to tell that despite excited, she was uneasy at what they were about to do. In spite of it, he still could see her bravery and determination underneath. He wanted so bad to ask her to back down, to give up and let him go alone, she would stay completely safe in her flat and he would come back in the morning, no one would need to know what truly happened, but he knew she would never accept such bid.

'How do you usually start your Auror missions?' he asked in a casual tone.

'Ahn ... We...' she stuttered, wondering why on Earth he was asking her about her Auror missions. 'Depends, actually. If we have time and if we need to, we get to know the field, do some research on what or who we're about to face and when we have everything ready, we're off.' She swallowed hard, gazing in puzzlement at him, hoping this was what he expected for her to answer.

'Oh, no different from what we did, then,' he observed in apparent surprise.

'No ... it's not.' She smiled slightly as she realised it really was just like another Auror mission and well, those were her specialty. 'Ready?' she asked with a wider smile in hope she could cheer him up the way he had done with her, after all, he seemed so much weaker than yesterday and that fact alone brought a tightness to her heart.

_Ready for the transformation? Not particularly ..._ Remus thought with himself, but nodded, offering his arm for her.

With a loud crack they appeared at the precise spot they had agreed on starting. Tonks casted a Gripping Charm on her hands and her feet before attaching her wand to its holder, the low click echoing around the forest, which at night, was even more silent, no sound was heard but the calm breeze that periodically would come to where they were. She looked up to the beech tree she had previously chosen, high and with a dense top, allowing her to hide herself very well. She was ready to start climbing and he knew it was the last time they would see each other clearly before morning.

'Tonks?' he called when she had one hand attached to the wood, his voice slightly above a whisper.

'Yeah?' Her tone as low as his.

For the instant their eyes met, he wondered if he should indeed voice his feelings, but he knew he could not protect her tonight, not whilst he was a beast and he needed her to be safe.

'Be careful,' the hoarseness in his voice even more prominent than usual.

'Don't worry, Remus,' she offered him a crooked smile, despite feeling that he was not supposed to be just another one in the Order that did not believe in her abilities as an Auror.

'Please?' Even though he had been for months feeling that when he finally got the courage to ask her to look after herself he would feel relieved, he found himself even more tense at the present moment.

'Did you forget who I was taught by?' she questioned in mock accusation. 'I'd be dead by now if I didn't have constant vigilance.' She winked, looking away from him.

Tonks climbed the tree up, managing to slip her left foot once and silently cursing until she reached the first branch she reckoned would be able to sustain her weight and lay prone upon it before looking down to see him watching her.

Remus observed her carefully, wand in hand if her clumsiness got the best of her, his heart nearly popped out of his chest when her foot slid, but he allowed himself to breathe again when she was safe on the branch. He walked over to his previously stipulated spot, took off his robes, neatly folding them before sitting down and placing his wand above them. By the corner of his eyes, he could see them flying and looked up to see Tonks getting them and keeping next to her. She tried to offer him a reassuring smile, but the pain of what was about to come must have been clear in his eyes for she bit her bottom lip a second later.

His body shivered from the cold and he hugged his legs, watching as the sun went down, he could feel the wolf scratching to get out and he fought it, breathing deeply. The waiting part was definitely the worst one, when he knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do. Certainly she hated him already, disgusted in the best case scenario. He knew she was watching him and seeing his back that was mostly covered by repugnant scars. He could still smell her, vanilla, cream and cherry; he could still hear her breathing and heartbeat, reasonably accelerated by the shock of seeing him in such state. The last sunlight faded and Remus placed his head between his knees, rubbing his arms and legs in hope to get some heat, to stop his body from shivering every now and then.

As the minutes passed, the animal in him, fought even harder for release, but Remus concentrated to fight back the battle he knew he would lose. Moonrise came and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristled and the first acute pain stroke, he clenched his teeth with all the strength he possessed, trying to scare her to the minimum, she still had a crucial part on their mission to perform, which she would not be able to do so if she was frozen with fear. Hence, he deepened his nails in his thighs to try to endure the pain as he began to feel his skin morphing. Every bone in his body felt like breaking, every muscle seemed to be twisted, every inch of skin was getting thicker and hairier.

Tonks would not stop glancing at him, down there, alone and shivering, completely fragile and vulnerable. Everything she had imagined during the last two full moons had not reached what her eyes were seeing. Shock hit her when the skin upon his back began to darken; fur began to grow at an alarming rate and his limbs began to grow significantly longer. The previous light shiver from the cold was replaced by a furious trembling that could only be the result of a terrible pain.

As his arms grew longer, his fingers grew shorter and he could feel the blood beginning to drop from his thighs. It was taking every bit of willpower within him to not scream, he was trying to breathe through the pain, but at this hate, he knew he would not be able to hold it for much longer. His torso started to elongate and that was the moment. Shouting with everything he got, he let himself fall to his side, rolling to his back and scratching every little piece of skin he could reach, drawing the blood out of him and hoping against hope that this time it will not be as harsh upon him as every month was. Yet, he is nearly thankful at the excruciating pain that hit him when his skull began to shift, it could almost distract him from the rest of his body.

The moment his nose and mouth lengthened to become a snout, Tonks swallowed hard, how was he able to bear these transformation every single month without clearance? But then again, he had no choice, she reminded herself, it's either this or ... nothing. An owl landed right in front of her, Penates, her owl, for a moment she considered sending him away, but she had not a clue of what was about to happen, he might be needed so, she decided to let him stay. Screams just like Remus's began to echo from somewhere deep down the forest, the pack was transforming as well. She looked back at him and she saw his feet growing almost as big her arms. And she just wanted to let him know that everything would be all right, even if she did not know if it was indeed true or not, all she needed was for him to believe it, he would be all right. She was panting and tired for just watching him turn. He rolled over to stand in his four feet, or rather, paws. He threw his head back, howling and Tonks shivered for she knew, at that very moment, there was but one single thought going through his mind. To bite.


	16. 15 Werewolves and Fire Crabs

**A/N:** Wheee! I managed to finish it until today! Yay! I'm really glad I made it. So yeah, don't expect any updates for the next three weeks, I have an awful exam in two weeks and no writing until it's behind me, I'll need a week to get the next chapter finished hence, three weeks. But the good news is that after those I'll be free and will be able to write much more!

And OMG! I've reached over a hundred thousand words! That scares me a bit, I'll assume that, specially since this is "only" my 15th chapter... -sigh- Sometimes I really wish I wrote shorter chapters, but I just can't! I like writing and reading big ones!  
>I really hope you guys like this one and thank so, so much for your last reviews! You guys are amazing! I'll promise I'll love forever whoever leaves another one for me. ^_^ Happy New Year!<p>

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 15: Werewolves And Fire Crabs<span>**

Amazing it was how she could still recognise him; the scar on his forearm she had seen a couple of months ago was there, holding the exact same proportions; the few grey hairs, that flecked the sandy brown tone of his, were precisely the same colour of his fur; the creature was thin and tall, just like him.

The next instant, Remus started running through the forest as fast as Tonks's heartbeat, she undid the Gripping Charm from her hands and feet before jumping from the tree she was on, absorbing the impact with a good Cushioning Charm, she then ran towards the howls that now filled the woods. Soon, she could hear not only the howls, but the paws of oodles of werewolves smashing the leaves as they ran. Very conscious of the fact that she was running directly to a nest of werewolves on her own, she remembered Mad-Eye's advice and opening her right hand at once, her wand was thrown to her palm the following second by her wand-hoslter, but not without forgetting Remus's warning of keeping the magic use to a minimum and therefore, she did not light it.

Not five minutes had passed when she was able to see, under the moonlight, the shadow of a huge lycanthrope, dangerously near her. Wand firmly in hand, she stared at it, watching as it was driven by instinct and ran around, visibly trying to identify from where the human scent was coming, spiralling closer and closer to her. Tonks casted the Gripping Charm on her hands once again and climbed as fast as she could, the closest tree, a cedar one that she was sure not to hold her weight for long, but as long as it held her for time enough so the werewolves would leave, she would be fine.

The first branches were the largest and therefore the strongest, but they were still far too close to the ground to be considered safe by her, so she kept climbing. Panting from the previous running she waited for a few minutes, but instead of decreasing the number of werewolves near her, it increased. Soon there were about five under her cedar tree and she was beginning to wonder if her only options left would be to wait the twig to break or morph into an animal and wait for her scent to be dismissed, the only problem with the second option was that she was not entirely sure if the few minutes she knew she was able to hold the transformation would be enough.

Tonks knew that the drops of sweat that were now coming down her temples were only attracting more and more lycanthropes. Looking down to them, she tried her best to find a solution, and the only extra option she found herself with, was to get back down a couple of branches and try to jump to the next tree. Sharpening a breath, she gripped the offshoot she was on tightly and let her body slid down until her feet touched the wood, testing it to see if it was able to hold her without breaking before letting her hands go. She crouched down immediately, not trusting her balance to keep her steady at such unsteady place, before she repeated the procedure to get down to the twig that was the closest to the ground.

From down there, she realised the next tree was not as close as it seemed, her best chance would be to run two or three steps before jumping. She got up and closed her eyes, concentrating on the task; wand in hand to the case her clumsiness got the best of her. Gradually, she opened her eyelids, glancing all the way she had to go until the next branch. Keeping her eyes focused on her target, she ran. One, two, three steps and she reached her goal, grasping the limb to prevent herself from falling, but not without allowing the wood and the leaves to make a fairly loud noise in the dead silent forest.

As a consequence, most of the werewolves had their eyes upon her, including the biggest one, that was now, circling the tree she was on, the one who was undoubtedly the one leading what could be called the attack to her, probably the leader of the pack. Taking advantage of the Gripping Charm, she climbed a few twigs up, securing herself at a reasonable distance from them. Knowing that she would not be able to jump from tree to tree, as she had intended, without gathering the attention of the whole pack to her, she knew a new strategy was in order. There had to be another way out to disseminate her scent that did not require for her to using her morphing abilities to its ultimate extension.

She took off her coat; the adrenaline hushing through her system was more effective on keeping her body temperature high than any clothes could. That garment in her hands was one of favourites, often providing her luck on missions when she thought nothing else could save her or any of her colleagues. She could not leave it to be ripped by werewolves who would be attracted to it by her scent, she needed to hide it just like she had done with Remus's robes and wand― Hang on! That thing in her hand was the way out she had been so eagerly looking for! If she was able to make the lycanthropes pursue it instead of her, she would be free to continue her assignment of finding where the werewolves were staying during their untransformed state. Well, not necessarily that exact garment, the green jumper she had on would do the job just as well and she would not need to sacrifice her lucky coat.

The jumper had left her torso the next minute before she donned the coat back on. It would need to be seriously planned, the werewolves could not see her on the branch, or it would be entirely ruined, she had no choice on this, despite knowing they hated magic, she would need to use it. With a hard hit of her wand on the top of her head, she Disillusioned herself, the jumper in her hands being the only item that had not become the same colour and texture of the tree she was on. Tonks levitated it with a non-verbal spell, making it go down to where the lycanthropes were at, but being extremely attentive not to let them get it yet. She made it circle around them, allowing them to feel her scent before cutting the air with her wand as she threw it as far as she could so that the werewolves ran madly after it.

Jumping to the ground, she ran to the opposite direction, faster than she had the first time for the lycanthropes were not five feet away from her. Fescues were cutting her face, but despite the constant sting, she had to keep going. When she could no longer listen to them ripping off her jumper, she stopped, wiping her forehead with her coat, her breath coming in deep gasps and feeling her heart nearly popping out her chest. The forest now was much denser than she ever recalled seeing it with Remus, she had certainly not been anywhere close to this area. Trying to locate herself, she held her wand in her open palm.

"_Point me!_" she whispered, but it did not move. Had she really put it to the precise north position?

Shrugging, she started to walk to her right, where she supposed to be west. She traipsed for a while, catching her breath and allowing her legs to recover before she had to start running once more. Here and there, she would hear a movement behind her back or beside her, but the moonlight would not be enough to identify whatever had caused the leaves to move.

That was, until she saw a bright reflexion, glistening not far from where she was, slowly moving towards her. A rigid shell encrusted with lots of coloured gems upon a grey body, a fire crab. Her heart nearly stopped for a moment and she felt as though she could not move a single muscle, her eyes widened and slowly she started to move away from it, not daring to take her eyes away from the creature. They were protected ones by the Ministry and she could not make the first move, nonetheless, Tonks was fully aware that fire crabs did not attack unless they felt themselves to be under attack, so onrushing would not be an intelligent move and she decided to leave it at peace, but she toppled upon a root. The fast movement of its head made her realise that there were in fact, three of them.

The Gripping Charm on her hands was now, making the leaves on the ground glue to her hands. She clumsily crawled backwards in an attempt to move away from the fire crabs, desperately trying not desperate herself, but obviously unsuccessfully and every single unpleasant memory related to fire was being thrown to her mind by her subconscious and she could swear that her heart would come out of her mouth at any second. Her head and her back then, made contact with a tree trunk and she looked up to it, deciding to climb it up to get rid of the menace.

The leaves attached to her hands and her nervousness made her way upwards so much more difficult than usual, causing her feet and hands to slip at almost any chance they got. The first branch was still far too close to the ground and therefore to the creatures, so she climbed a few more before she found herself at a position she would consider safe. Tonks pulled her legs to her chest and leant her forehead on her knees. Closing her eyes, she reminded herself of Mad-Eye telling her furiously the first time he had learnt about her fear. _It's just a simple spell._

The back of her head was now leant at the bough as she caught her breath, hoping that this would be no more than a transient bit of their mission, but before her breath had evened, she heard the sound of short fescue being broken. Quickly, she looked down to see that the werewolves had again found their way to the only human scent within that forest. She knew she should not complaint about it for she knew that being in this new area now, she was close to their nest, but did they really have to meet her whilst the fire crabs were around?

_Werewolves are only a threat to humans and fire crabs are only dangerous if they're really attacked. If you remain still, the fire crabs will walk away and the lycanthropes will focus on locating you, right?_

Wrong. The flaw in her plan was to not perceive that once werewolves were hunting a human, especially in a dark environment, they would not hesitate to attack the first thing that moved nearby said scent.

She watched open-mouthed as the pack's leader initiated its onslaught upon the first fire crab, which was bitten between its right arm and the shell, most likely breaking a tooth or two from the wolf as they rolled on the ground. The fire crab then, proceeded to turn its rear to the werewolf and launch a stream of flame at him, forcing the wolf to retrieve and luckily for her, the leaves were wet enough from the rain to not caught fire at first. The pack then, declared the group of fire crabs as their enemy after attacking their leader, hence before she knew precisely how it had really happened, the other fire crabs were also fighting and flames were being shot everywhere.

In spite of still having a good proportion of humidity within them, the leaves were not immune to fire and no amount of wood could have resisted so many streams of fire. One of the close cedar trees was on fire, Tonks obliged herself to stay calm, it was still far, it did not mean ― Another cedar tree was burning, a third, a fourth. She found herself stuck where she was, unable to move a finger, panting and fighting the memories away, but how could she do it when blazes were before her, shooting the remembrances back instantly.

_She was a four-year-old, swinging under a tree in their garden and beamed as her father approached her after coming back from visiting his mother._

"_Hey, Dora! Look what I got you!"_

_Ted showed her what seemed to be nothing more than a small sliver._

"_It's just wood, Daddy." Dora frowned, giving it back to her father. "The tree is a much bigger wood," she reasoned, pointing to the tree they were under, the one he had hung her, a swing months before._

"_Oh, no!" He refused to take it back. "This is a special wood, we call it a match and it can do this."_

_He got her little hand and lit it on the swing. Seeing her eyes widen in surprise, he smiled and then blew the flame away._

"_Cool, huh?" grinned Ted._

"_It's magic!" she grinned back at him before trying to lit it again, but unsuccessfully._

"_No, this isn't magic," he explained to her, struggling to get something from the pocket of his tight muggle jeans._

"_What is it then?"_

"_Well," he could say it had to do with chemical elements and ― "It's just not magic. Here." He handed her a new one, putting the box on the swing and crouching beside his daughter. "You can only use them once. Now, I'll light it and then you have to blow it __**really**__ hard. You think you can do it?"_

_Dora nodded fiercely._

"_All right, let's go."_

_He got her hand again and lit the second match, causing her to open a wide grin._

"_Go, really hard!"_

_Dora blew the match, making more noise and spiting more saliva than actually blowing air upon the fire, but extinguishing it one way or another._

"_Well done!" Her father smiled proudly as she laughed._

"_TED!" she heard her mother's voice coming from inside the house. "Would you come here a sec?"_

"_I'll be right there," she heard her father shout as he stood up and ruffled her hair. "Be back in a bit and we can do some more, all right?"_

_She nodded analysing the match in her hand and the one on the ground. What if she managed to light one? She could show him afterwards and he would love to see she was so smart, wouldn't he? Standing on her tiptoes, she reached for the little box, but managed to overthrow it. She got one of the many matches and realising that her father was so much stronger than her, she used all her strength on her attempt to light it and a wide smile came to her lips when she noticed she had indeed lit the match. Fascinated to see for how long that little piece of wood would be able to hold the fire, she stared at it, until it reached her little fingers, burning them. Dora let the match fall, bringing her fingers to her mouth. A dead leaf was now burning and then another and another. The smoke came to her nostrils and she was coughing the next instant, it hurt. Her fingers hurt, her lungs stung, her eyes were being covered by tears and now a wall of fire, magically increased, was before her._

"_Daddy..." she called lowly, coughing and walking away from it, but she tripped over her own foot as she tried to walk backwards. "Daddy, Daddy," she called again, crawling backwards now. Her coughs were getting harder and it made her lungs hurt even more, she could not breathe. "Daddy..." Everything became dark._

_―_

_She was now a student at Hogwarts, facing a Boggart for the first time in her life during a Defence Against The Dark Arts Class. Funny, she thought, how can it ever be funny?_

"_Miss Tonks?" She had yet to come with a funny way of seeing it when Professor Jude told her to step forward, Tonks obliged._

_The next instant the nundu wearing a floral hat and polished nails from her previous colleague had disappeared and the desk caught fire, triggering some laughs from her classmates. Then, the whole classroom was on fire, she could hear some of her classmates, instead of laughing, shouting in fright. It was not funny, it would never be._

_The next thing she knew she was on the floor, crawling backwards, her wand was nowhere to be seen, evoking only too well her worst experience._

"_Think, Tonks, think! Funny!"_

_She hugged her legs, burying her head between her knees and Professor Jude stepped between her and the creature, extinguishing the fire in an instant and re-materialising a Manticore before them all._

"_Riddikulus!" Tonks heard her Professor cast the spell and she knew the creature was gone._

_Locating her wand a couple of feet away from her, she crawled to it and grabbed her rucksack on her way out. She made her way down to the dormitories utterly humiliated, not a care in the world to lunch or her next classes, curling up in bed, still shaken from the previous event. However, as she rolled in bed that night, she swore she would become the best student in the Defence Against the Dark Arts Class, no matter what it took. She would learn to defeat every single dark creature or wizard, even the Boggart. The event of this morning would not ever repeat itself. She just needed to find a way to see a huge wall of burning fire, troubling her sight and breathing right before her, funny._

A hoot and a few light nips on her cheek and nose dragged her back to the present, only to see Penates flying away before his feathers burnt, risking his own life to save hers, pulling her out from her own pensieve of memories.

Hot. It was hot. So hot, she felt her cheeks burning and drops of sweat were forming all over her face, using her coat's sleeve, she wiped them away as she realised that the beech tree she was on, had also caught fire. The smoke formed by wet wood and leaves being burnt was even more voluminous than it would have been if the fire had caught on dry ones. Up at the top, it was even worse, her breathing and sight were compromised. Hope seemed to be leaving her at the same hate of air in her lungs. There was no one to save her now, as her father had done many years ago, she was alone and Disillusioned, no one would even find her if she died here. _It's one simple spell_, came Mad-Eye's voice one more time, lecturing her long ago. She could die here and be a burden for the whole Order who would spend several days trying to find her body until they would be forced to admit she had been a victim of a lycanthrope or she could prove her value and be of some use for them. Determination as strong as the one that crossed the mind of her thirteen-year-old self on that night, was implanted on hers at the moment.

Certainly, the werewolves would not even perceive any use of magic at this point, if they all had not left by now. Concentrating, she attempted to ignore the sounds of branches falling and smashing whatever was on their way downwards as she tried to stop coughing for a minute to say the word, she pointed her wand to the tree's root.

"Agua― _Aguamenti_," her voice hoarse and her throat hurting at every letter. A thin stream of water came from her wand, but the heat coming from the fire soon vaporised it all. "_Aguamenti!_" she said more fiercely, causing a larger stream to leave from the tip of her wand, but still not enough to extinguish that huge amount of flames.

Tonks began to shout the spell several times in a row, pointing her wand downwards angrily at every shot, but without any luck, the fire had reach such an immense proportion that she knew a single wand would not be able to end it, she needed to get out. She could disapparate, getting rid of that fire once and for all, but also leaving the location she knew to be close to the pack's nest or she could… No, she couldn't do it, it was too much, she was not strong enough ― No! She could and she would do it.

Casting a Flame-Freezing Charm upon her own head, she took off her coat, embraced it as well as herself and held her breath, jumping to the centre of the fire. Tonks felt the tingling sensation caused by the spell, she was not burnt, but she was in the midst of an immense blaze, it was paralysing. _It cannot hurt you_, she reminded herself, _it cannot hurt you_. Closing her eyes, she kept her arms around herself as she slowly, started to walk a few steps straight; Tonks opened her eyes to try to see a way out through her distorting vision, glad not to find werewolf or fire crab in her way. She had to put away a few twigs that blocked her way, but she managed to leave. However, she did not stop walking until she was at a decent and safe distance from it.

She kept going until she could not hear the log's cracking, nor feel the fire's heat warming her body. Tonks started to shiver, if by coldness or fear, she would never know, but she put the coat back on nonetheless. Her head was bumping, she was panting and her body ached. She knew she needed a rest, a few minutes to take a break and then go on feeling much better. But she could not for sitting down would surely keep her mind in the red flames and she could not afford to lose herself in it; at least walking gave her something to focus on other than her greatest fear.

The woods were getting less dense, could it be a glade nearby? She concentrated on the mission, she had to find where the werewolves were hiding. She kept hiking until her legs failed her, she had no choice but to stop. Throwing herself under a tree, she started to cough, it felt as if her body wanted to put whatever had entered her air ways out, even if it included her own lungs. When her breathing finally evened, with her eyes glistening, she rested for a good while, knowing she was close to wherever they were hiding; even in the darkness she could tell she had never been anywhere nearby. Precisely like it had happened the day before, rain began to fall with no further notice.

"_Impervius_!" Tonks casted the spell to repel the water from her Disillusioned body and to prevent herself from having a cold the next morning whilst she found shelter under a bigger beech tree nearby.

She watched as the fire was slowly extinguished by the rain, not helping a chuckle as she remembered that neither she nor Remus wanted it to rain tonight, but now she was definitely enjoying seeing it end the flames. When the rain was finally gone, she re-started to walk, stopping here and there when an arduous round of coughs would hit her, but not for long.

Howls echoed through the forest, she began to run towards them, emptying her mind from anything else. Though, whenever she thought she was approaching a group of lycanthropes, she would hear another round of howls in a different direction, initiating her run towards the new ones. That was when she noticed the forest becoming clearer and clearer, the sun was coming up and the moon could no longer be seen.

She apparated where they had first started their mission, gladly realising that Remus's robes and wand were at the precise spot she had left them. She got them and then, apparated back to where she had been, running to them, searching for Remus amidst the men that found themselves now as half-beast, half-human. When she was running towards the third group, a single voice called her attention, one that had the layer of pain more prominent than anything else, one she could hear the self-pity in it, the hate for such mortifying curse, one she was sure of whom it belonged to.

Remus heard his painful scream before he had even realised he had been the one screaming. His entire body ached, burning sensations from freshly opened skin was all over his chest. He could feel the fur entering in him, his ear moving to the side of his head and for Merlin's sake! That _hurt_! He could swear that by the pain he was feeling, his canine tooth was drawing a river of blood whilst penetrating his gum all the way to his skull, but when he touched it, there was none. He curled up on the ground, feeling the unsettling sensation of something weighting in his stomach, letting him know that he had eaten something during the night. What could have been his pray? Not many animals or creatures inhabited this forest. Sure a human would not ―

_Please, don't let it be her. Please, don't let it be her._

For how long he held his own stomach as though he was holding to her dead body, pleading to not have caused her any harm, Remus would not know, but the sound of hurried footsteps eventually brought him out of his stupor.

The sight of Remus sunk in his own legs, shivering in pain and bleeding made her heart tightened. She felt an incredible urge to run to him, held him in her arms and tell him he would be all right. But oh, god! He was naked and what on Earth would he think of her if she did so? Respect, professionalism; that was what she was determined to show him, they were Order colleagues, friends! She could be what he needed her to be. She threw his robes and wand near him.

"Your things," she announced before turning around to allow him privacy enough to put them on.

Her voice, it was her voice... Words could not describe the relief he felt when those two words reached his ears. She was alive, he had not killed her. Remus felt the fabric touching his back and turned his head to it, also seeing her back turned to him... She could not look at him, could not face him... Honestly, did he really expect any different? She had witnessed him become a monster right before her eyes, the kind of beast her nightmares would consist of, his worst state. Did he really think she would smile and hug him? Who was he trying to fool?

"How are you?" she asked, her voice still hoarse and low due the fire.

"Been better," he answered honestly, not seeing any purpose on lying to someone who surely hated him at this point. "And you?" True concern crossed his voice when she began to cough as he finished donning his robes and got his wand.

"Fine," she replied in a tone that certainly ended any conversation. She had absolutely no desire to talk about what had happened during the night, even though she knew she would need to, sooner or later, let him know as well as write a report to Dumbledore.

Her voice tone made known everything he needed to, she did not wish to talk to him, she was exactly like everyone else, the ones who could barely look him in the eye as soon as they knew about his affliction. Why had he even thought about the possibility of her being different? She was disgusted by him and he would not force his presence to her for another instant.

Not hearing another sound of clothes being put on, Tonks turned around to make sure he was done or even if he needed any help. For a split second their eyes met and she could see deep down that he was hurt, beyond the cuts upon his skin, battered inside, beyond the physical. She stared at his amber orbs, apologising for everything he had been through even though she had nothing to do with it and quite abruptly Tonks felt something change. He spun on the spot he was in, he was leaving.

"NOOOOO!" She threw herself to where he was, her fingers doing not much more than brushing his shoulder.

In the darkness of apparition, she conceived the only clue she had of the place she was sure he was heading to. "The Lupin Bungalow" she repeated to herself over and over whilst Remus shrugged his shoulder, in an attempt to rid her of the burden of the werewolf. She did not think when she jumped on him, she did not know what she was doing, more likely she had thought of some charity, helping him afterwards. Well, he did not need any of it, _she_ did not need any of it. They would be more than fine once they got past the fact they had to pretend they still were friends. However, before he succeeded on his task, an acute pain hit his chest and he felt himself falling on the ground.

Tonks was dragged to the floor with the weight of his body. Soon, his robes were stained not only by the blood of his cuts from the transformation, but also by...

"Remus," she breathed, staring wide-eyed at him. "Remus!" she shouted, shaking his shoulders, but he did not move.

She ripped his shirt apart to see that a nice chunk of flesh was missing; blood was all over his chest. _Fuck_. He needed immediate treatment, he could not apparate, not like that and setting up an illegal Portkey was out of question. Remus was getting paler and paler... She looked around in search for any help, only now aware of the small Cottage before her, a connexion to the Floo Network would certainly save him. Tonks ran to it, but before she reached the entrance, she was thrown a few feet away by the protections spells.

"_Damn it!_" she cursed before starting coughing again.

She surely would be able to put them away, but that would cost them a time they did not have. She ran back to him, kneeling beside his body and sharpening a breath as she realised she was Remus's only hope.

"You can do this," she told herself, breathing deeply again as she remembered the few lessons on medical treatment she had received during her last days of Auror Training. Not much, but would have to be enough to save him.

Tonks tried to ignore the sight of her hands covered in his blood, the feeling of the thick, scarlet liquid dripping from them; closing her eyes to concentrate and instant before starting.

"Derm Muskulatur Emendo. Derm Muskulatur Emendo," she repeated the incantation, drawing small circles with her wand upon his lesion. Examining closely as his muscles and skin slowly got together once more under the effect of her healing, until there was no more than a pink tissue, a thin, quite long scar that cut from under his left nipple all the way to under his last right rib, one that surely would not be there if he had been treated by an actual healer.

A healer... Taking him to St. Mungo's would certainly help, but was far too risk. What would she say when they started to ask why he already had so many cuts? When they asked why on Earth he hadn't apparated to the Hospital in the first place? Something told her that answering 'We were trying to locate a pack of werewolves in a full moon night to convince them to join the Order of the Phoenix because, you know, Voldemort is really back,' would probably get them a one way ticket to meet their psychological experts.

Getting a firm hold of his hand, she side-apparated him to her flat. Tonks levitated him to her couch and pointed her wand directly to his face.

"_Reenervate!_"

Remus started to feel conscious again, vaguely aware of a relieved puff from someone next to him. He groaned at the tingling sensation in his chest, his hand automatically travelled to the location to rub it off, but a smaller hand stopped his.

"Don't."

His eyelids parted and he was able to see a thin face, black hair poorly framing the scraped skin as dark eyes looked at him apprehensively. How could someone ― or _something_ been able to hurt such perfect skin? She looked bad, definitely, but he felt no better.

"You splinched," she explained, taking her hand from his to put it over her mouth as she coughed. "I fixed you, but it's best to let it be for a while."

Remus glanced at his bare chest, covered in a relatively dry blood, several new cuts under a completely ripped upper robe. Great, another one in need to be mended. His muscles still ached from the previous transformation, let alone his head that right now felt as though there was a whole set of drums inside it. He struggled to remember, but the last thing that came to his mind was disapparating away from her, but she somehow had managed to get a hold of him and he tried to send her away... Well, obviously he had not been able to and still splinched. How could he be such a burden to her? He must have known that he would not be able to leave on his own, he should have asked for her to accompany him to Grimmauld Place and go back to her house. Remus exhaled heavily letting his head fall down, he ran his hand upon his face and rested for mere two seconds before he sat down and slid his legs out of the couch. He glanced down to his chest once again; he would heal himself and then leave her, she should not have to deal with him for an instant longer than necessary.

"Do you need anything?" questioned Tonks. "I have Dittany, salamander's blood―"

"Dittany," he answered promptly, "please," he added, gently. Despite werewolf's cuts being cursed and not fully healing with most magical methods, he had found Dittany to be quite helpful, but of course he was not always able to afford it.

She quickened to the toilet and was back a few minutes later bringing the small bottle. Tonks took off the stopper before handing it to him. Remus let a few drops fall upon the one that seemed to be the worst wound; as the green smoke came out, he let his torso fall on the back of the sofa, gritting his teeth. It may have a wonderful effect later on, but oh, good Merlin, how it stung! The cycle repeated itself for another five cuts, when he handed it back to her, unable to say a word with the feeling of his whole chest burning. She put the stopper back on and left to keep it.

"_Ferula!_" he tapped his chest with the tip of his wand a few bandages appeared in it, firmly wrapped just where his injuries were.

Tonks came back and to his surprise she had a pillow and a blanket in her arms, she threw them at him, pleased to see that his face was already more coloured.

"I know it's not the best couch, but you're welcome to stay until you're feeling better."

Remus nodded his thanks. Maybe there was more to her than he had thought; Auror Training had certainly given to her more than skills as a duellist, she had learnt how to be extremely professional, after all, they were as good as partners in a mission and she was willing to help him until he was apt to leave by himself. But that would be as much as he would take from her, she should not have to deal with an old werewolf in her home, he would leave her be the minute he was feeling well enough to disapparate without splinching himself once more.

"Now, excuse me 'cause I'm gonna crash," she yawned and stretched her way to her room, bringing a grimace to Lupin's face. How could he do this to such a nice girl?

Tonks let herself fall on her bed, not caring enough to take off her scorched clothes nor to cover herself with the duvet, her boots hanging on her feet outside her bed; physical but mainly mental exhaustion taking her instantaneously and sending her to a much wanted unconscious state immediately, one she would not have to worry about just how much Remus was hurt by such detrimental curse every single month without rest, one she would not be lost in such aching memories from her past.

When she woke up later that day, her eyes soon caught a sight at her clock on the bedside table, it read two past five in the afternoon and her stomach howled in protest for almost twenty-four hours without food. She groaned when she realised she had not stopped at the market yet and if she wanted to eat something other than toasts or biscuits, she would have to leave. The Auror had to admit that they certainly seemed appetising, but as another arduous round of coughs got to her, she saw that she would need to eat something decent to get better. Tossing her boots out of her feet, she made her way to the toilet.

"You look like hell, sis," her reflexion told her as she washed her face, only now seeing the cuts that began to stung all over her.

"Thanks," she mumbled back before focusing and feeling the familiar tingling sensation as she morphed back to herself, healing each of her scrapes with her wand.

Back in her room, she saw Penates drinking from his water bowl and a smirk came to her lips. He would be her perfect solution. She walked back to her drawing-room, sparing a glance at Remus, who still slept as if he hadn't in a whole century. She got a spare piece of parchment, ink and a quill before heading back to her room to write:

_Dear Rosmerta,_

_Would I be troubling you too much if I asked for two chicken soups? Please?  
><em>_Thanks!_

_Tonks_

She got seven sickles, placing them inside a tiny leather bag and attached the two to her owl's leg, offering him a smile as she walked with him to the window.

Tonks went back to the toilet, in for a quick yet restorative shower, throwing her clothes on the already huge pile of laundry and donning after it no more than an old T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms. Walking back to the drawing-room, she could not help but to smile when she looked at Remus. His features were still crossed with weariness and pain, but they were already so much better than early that morning both when she saw him right after the transformation and after he had splinched. She had helped him and he would soon be just fine. Upon the coffee table she got the half of a letter to her best friend she had begun to write in her signature pink ink the week before and decided to finish it as she awaited the food.

_Liv,_

_You need to tell me that soon you'll be back in town, I miss you so much and it's been almost a year since I last saw you, that's just way too much. I wish I could visit you instead, but I'm sure Charlie has told you already how things are around here now. Madness, I assure you. I've been practically working double shifts and sometimes I wish I could just take a day off, but well, I know it'll take a while until that happens._

_I bet you're having a wonderful time taking care of four Romanian Longhorn babies by yourself, despite being so tired, but there's nothing you can say that will convince me that they are cute. Seriously, you gotta start seeing them as what they truly are, huge lizards that can destroy everything._

Tonks chuckled remembering her friend's enthusiasm in her previous letter at how adorable the baby dragons were. She continued to write it until she heard Remus shifting his position on the couch.

Being awakened by the sound of a quill scratching parchment, he rolled to his side to get somewhat more comfortable in the small sofa. He saw Tonks's eyes on him and he sat down, getting his wand on the coffee table and adjusting his ripped robes before standing up.

"You're not leaving, are you?" asked Tonks with a frown.

"I'm feeling better already."

"But I've ord ―" she was cut off by Penates re-entering her flat. "I've ordered chicken soup," she grinned at him. She saw a short note hanging from the owl's leg and got it, smiling as she read 'I want the bowls back!' and hurrying with the food to the kitchen and put it in two of her deep plates before sending Rosmerta's back.

Remus sighed when she brought the warm food back from the kitchen, smiling at him. This was not right, she should not have to do it all because he had thought himself to be strong enough to apparate away from her, but inside her eyes, he had seen that he would hurt her even more if he left, not to mention how much he was dying for a good dinner and the smell of it was nothing less than delicious. Thus, he sat down beside her to have one more meal with her.

Tonks knew she would have to tell him sooner or later and postponing it would only make it worse. Hence, after a few spoonfuls, she let him know.

"I got really close last night."

"You couldn't find it?" he asked perplexed.

Tonks shook her head, starting to inform him all that had happened during the night.

However, there was only one thing going through his mind. He had done it. He had failed Dumbledore, the man who had trusted him, allowed him to have a decent education and friends whilst in Hogwarts, his last chance to make the headmaster glad to have trusted him with this mission and he could not simply find the nest of the werewolf pack. He was pathetic.

"― So I say with another couple of weeks, tops, we'll get to them."

What? Did she really want to go on with this mission? With this insane excuse for getting killed?

"No, Tonks," he lowered his eyes to the soup. "It's over."

"Over?" she sounded bitter. They had received a mission and he would simply give up because it had not occurred as it was supposed to? "You're quitting?"

Remus nodded.

"Oh, for the love of ― You can't quit!" she nearly shouted. "We can do this, Remus! We can't give up! Dumbledore knows it's not easy, he'll understand if we ask for some more time, another month even."

"I've been doi ―"

"You know what? I'm not quitting," she stated. "You can either help me find them or tell Dumbledore that you're putting me in charge of it."

Ah, the Black pride; he should have seen it coming. She would not come back with a failed mission; on hold, perhaps, but admitting failure was probably something she did not even know how to do.

"Tonks ―"

"I'm serious, Lupin, I'm not going to let the Order down because ―"

"Fine!" he smiled. "You win, we're in this together."

"We are?" she opened a wide grin.

He nodded. He was not going to let her alone on this, his job was to protect her and she would not back down. He really had no choice.

"But under one condition," he raised his eyebrows to her.

"You name it."

"We stop at the market tomorrow," he grinned.

"Deal," she smiled bashfully.

Once they had emptied their deep plates, Remus reached for his wand again, but Tonks stopped him.

"You're not going anywhere," she announced and he made to protest, but she cut him off by getting a hold on his wand. "You can say whatever you want, Remus, but you're not yet fine," she looked down to her feet for a moment before gazing back at him. "Tomorrow morning you're free to go," she promised.

Remus shook his head. He was tired, the wolf seemed to have spent every drop of energy from his body and even though he had slept almost the whole day, he still felt like sleeping more. She was offering him too much, so much more than he deserved and he could not really understand why, it was not what she should have been dealing with, she should have been having fun with her friends and not caring for an old werewolf, she deserved so much more. Something deep down her pleading eyes made him nod, however. Tonks hurried inside and got him a towel.

"Take a shower and rest," she smiled. "I have an early shift tomorrow, but don't mind me, you can stay as long as you want."

He watched as she walked towards the pane, giving her owl a letter, thanking it for saving her life by ruffling his two feathers that looked like ears and said she was sorry for making him travel so much that day before letting the bird go out the window.

"Tonks?"

"Yeah?" she looked back at him.

"Thank you," he smiled sheepishly.

"You're welcome," she returned his shy smile before going into her room.

Remus did as she told him to, a warm shower had a wonderful effect upon his healing wounds, but he could not help, when he lied back on the couch, his mind from travelling straight to her between his restless naps. Why on Earth was she doing it? Why was she being so attentive towards him? He did not deserve. She had just seen his true self, he was a monster. She did not deserve to be stuck with him, she was so full of life, eager to walk out that flat and live life to its fullest, but he was locking her here. This was not how it was supposed to be, this was not right. He would not force his presence to her for another minute. He got up and grabbed a piece of parchment from the coffee table; he was not going to let her think it was something she had done.

_Dear Tonks,_

_I could not sleep, but as I was feeling much better, I decided to head back to the Headquarters. Thank you again for your hospitality. Meet me at Grimmauld Place tomorrow night so we can figure some time to continue working on the mission._

_Remus_

With a loud crack, he had disappeared from her flat in the middle of the night.


	17. 16 Planning

**A/N:** Hi there, everyone! Managed to finish it a bit earlier than 3 weeks later, but well, here it is! XD Thanks a lot for all your awesome reviews! I appreciate them all, seriously, you guys are amazing! Anyway, hope you like this one. :)

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 16: Planning<span>**

"He WHAT?"

Tonks could not believe. She had spent the entire length of the last three days on duty for the Order and Mad-Eye had really...? Not fair. It was most definitely not fair.

"You heard me," grinned Savage. "Came here Friday morning saying he had caught you with no constant vigilance whatsoever and that he was doing the Auror Headquarters a favour by training you for a couple of days; that we should really keep an eye out to the capacity of whom we have here. Wasn't that what you'd been doing this weekend?"

"NO!" she frowned. "I mean _yes!_ But it wasn't like that," she sighed, taking half a minute and realising she had no choice at all but to go with Mad-Eye's lie. "He caught me a bit distracted, but hey! He's the only that can manage to keep constant vigilance twenty-four/seven! So yeah, he decided to remind me of a few basics," she rolled her eyes, pretending to mock of her old mentor as her partner laughed. "One day I'll catch him off guard too, you'll see," she grinned. Next time, _she_ would come up with an excuse to ditch her shift for some Order duty.

"Good luck on that!" he wished.

Tonks threw herself on her chair, hiding her face in her hands as she leant on her table. As if it wasn't enough to have found out that her guest had left hours before she got out of bed, she had now to deal with the fact that basically every single soul in that Office believed that she did not meet the requirements to be an Auror, or at least that she needed another training session with Mad-Eye, just like when she was a Junior Auror, not that things had changed hastily, she had been the last one they had taken in, but maybe she should really focus on her paperwork. Besides, it had been such a long time since she had had someone over that it was almost an insult to wake up and find your flat empty. Waiting a minute, she took, from her pocket, Remus's note she had found at that morning on her table, re-reading it again. He could not sleep, maybe it really wasn't her fault, maybe he just really could not fall asleep in that sofa, she knew it was definitely not as good as his bed back at Grimmauld Place, she should not treat it as though it was a big deal. She smiled still amazed at how much care he seemed to have put in each letter. They would meet again later that day. Well, at least she had something good to look up to.

* * *

><p>Remus rotated his shoulder, his joint cracking with the movement. The following days after a full moon were never easy; here and there he could still feel his whole body aching in protest after such tiresome effort. He carefully marked the page of the book he had been reading and took off the cloth with a solution of strained and pickled Murtlap tentacles from his torso before sliding his legs out of bed, making a decision to move before he found himself unable to do so. A smile spreading on his lips as he realised that it should not take much until Tonks made her way to that house. Sure he had not left her flat the day before with the best valediction and he certainly did not wish to put upon herself the burden of an old werewolf such as himself; but this, what he had planned was, in fact, something different, it was the other way around; he would be helping her.<p>

He climbed down the stairs, avoiding the kitchen on purpose where he knew Sirius was drinking more than he was able to take. The previous night's encounter with his godson did not help in the slightest with Sirius's mood and Remus had run out of comforting words towards his best friend. He walked to the drawing-room and saw there the Daily Prophet upon which they had had a discussion earlier. The front page had a rather big picture of Dolores Umbridge, under a headline.

MINISTER SEEKS EDUCATION REFORM

DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED

FIRST EVER HIGH INQUISITOR

Even before he read the first word, he knew it could not be something good, however, he did not expect to read an article discrediting his teaching ability, it was one of the few things he was rather proud of, but even that the Ministry was debunking, though he should have seen it coming. What the Ministry was not debunking these days? Remus did not know what possessed him to keep re-reading it over and over, the words echoing in his head.

_'Among those eccentric decisions are undoubtedly_ _the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the employment of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid and delusional ex-Auror 'Mad-Eye' Moody.'_

Werewolf. There, announced to the whole Wizarding Community to see, soon there would be not a soul who did not know what he was. Why was he disturbed about it? That was exactly what he truly was. The reason he had resigned, the reason he was not good enough to be around children, the reason he would never return to his dream job... Was he safe enough to even stay around humans? Remus sighed letting his head fall, only to be instantly thrown back up.

"Wotcher!" he heard Tonks's joyful voice as well as he felt her body being thrown against his on the couch. "What you reading?"

Remus could not help but to smile at her enthusiasm.

"H ― Hi, Tonks."

"High Inquisitor?" she frowned stealing the newspaper from him. "What the heck?"

"She's received more power," he explained and took the paper from her hands politely, foretelling that her reaction upon reading what was there about her old mentor would not be a good one. "The Ministry continues to interfere within Hogwarts; nothing new."

"Um," Tonks frowned slightly at the paper in his hands or was it at his behaviour? "Where's Sirius?" she asked getting up at once.

"Don't bother. Drinking," he informed her. "Talked to Harry last night. He was quite enthusiastic about meeting him during the next Hogsmeade weekend, but Harry doesn't want him taking any risks, so..."

"No meeting," she guessed, biting her lip and anxiously glancing towards the kitchen.

"No meeting," he confirmed folding the paper, purposely letting Umbridge's picture out of sight. "Shall we?" he tilted his head to the door.

"Where we going?" she asked confused and not moving.

"To buy supplies for you," he answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh, right," she grinned.

"Where do you usually go?"

"I don't know, depends on where I am, I guess. I don't stick with a single place," she smiled.

"Really?" asked Remus, thinking it was only natural that everyone had a preferred market, but well, this seemed to be another proof to himself that Tonks was different from everyone.

"Really," she shrugged. "If I have a mission and I'm near somewhere good, I'll stop by and get what I need, but I suppose there are good ones near home."

"Well, today you're going somewhere else," Remus informed her as he passed by her towards the door. "There's this small one I always shop at, I trust you'll like it there. The owner is a nice guy whom I've known for many years."

"All right," she offered Remus a half-smile, following him.

They apparated in a dark alley; Remus allowing Tonks to take most of the control due the tiredness of the recent transformation, but still keeping in his mind the market's image. Then, Remus led her to it; the market revealed itself to be a small one indeed, but containing a great variability of products nevertheless, inside the signboard that read 'Towler's'.

"So, milk? Cream?" a smirk started to play upon the corner of his lips.

"Definitely!" she agreed with a curt nod.

Remus led her to the referred area after getting a grocery cart and started handing her a few milk bottles.

"They even got quite a few protections against muggles here," he informed her.

"Oh, really?" she placed the bottles in the back of the grocery cart.

"Umhm," he nodded. "Though, once I did see them fail..." he chuckled. "Rhys ― Mr. Towler pretended he was Scandinavian and started talking with an accent, as if he didn't know English very well. The muggle persisted for a good while until he gave up and left. Quite an amusing scene, I assure you."

"Bet it was," giggled Tonks, heading to the eggs, but midway to it, something else caught her attention. "Bacon!"

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Thought Aurors were supposed to, you know... be fit," he teased as she put a good amount of them in her cart.

"One thing doesn't exclude the other, Remus," she teased back.

He raised his hands defensively.

"It's Mad-Eye you'll have to face later, not me," he said, keeping his face completely straight.

Tonks pondered for a moment and then let her breath out in an annoyed puff.

"You're worse than Mum, did you know that?" she took one of the bacon packages from the cart and put it back on the shelf, which Remus did not think to make that much of a difference since the pile within the cart was still rather big.

"May I take that as a compliment?" he asked. "I don't see your mother since... well, since the last time I saw you before the ―" he lowered his voice to a mere whisper, "Order. I don't know, fifteen years?" his tone returning to its usual volume in the last sentence.

"Hm, I was eight when Sirius was... _got pinched_... but I remember him not bringing you guys towards the end. It was just himself then. So, twenty-two minus... say seven... fifteen. Yeah, that's it."

"Well... After Lily got pregnant and she and James went on hiding" he lowered his voice one more time, "the Order got very _fragile_, if I say so. And we grew apart... We started to mistrust each other and well, we were pretty much doomed. It was only a matter of time," he sighed, completely focused on the wall behind her.

"Good thing we're better prepared this time," she winked. "Now, you've got me."

Remus smiled. Always an optimistic, she was.

"Hey, it's Dad's birthday this weekend, d'you wanna come?" she offered. "I'm sure they won't mind, since it's so long you've see them."

"Ahn, no... Thank you," he refused politely with a curt nod yet not entirely comfortable.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun!" she insisted. "Can't resist a party, Dad, it'll have a bunch of our muggle rellies!"

"Some other time, maybe," declined Remus, once again with a small smile.

"All righty, then," Tonks shrugged resuming her shopping.

Half an hour later with more eggs than they were able to carry properly and, amongst several other things, what seemed to be Mr. Towler's whole stock of butterbeers, they went to the cash desk.

"Remus! Long time no see," greeted Mr. Towler.

"Indeed, I'm spending some time with a friend of mine," explained Remus.

"I think that's it," said Tonks, putting the last bottles of milk on the desk.

"This lovely young woman, I presume."

"Oh, no, no," Remus shook his head. "It's another friend... She's his cousin actually; a friend in common," he smiled.

"Tonks," she offered her hand to shake.

"Rhys Towler. Enchanted to meet you," he shook her hand. "New clients? I'll give you ten percent off on your next purchase, Remus."

"Oh, that's really not necessary," Remus politely refused.

"I insist," he reaffirmed with a short nod.

"Thank you," said Remus, knowing that Mr. Towler was aware that he was in no position to deny.

"That's nine galleons and twelve sickles," announced Rhys once he had finished adding everything.

Tonks took from the inner pocket of her robes lots of golden coins and Remus could not help to stare at them for a short instant as she handed him ten of them and got five silver ones back.

"That's a lot of money you've been walking with," he brought forth once they had left the market.

"Always do," Tonks shrugged or tried to as she was carrying several bulging bags in her arms. "Better than having to go to the Gringotts all the time."

"Still, not entirely safe, is it?" he questioned. "Especially these days."

"C'mon, Remus, I'm an Auror. If I can't walk with lots of gold, who can? I just need constant vigilance," she grinned, but looked behind her back instinctively as they entered a desert alley. "Let's go," she closed her eyes whilst they disapparated to her flat.

As soon as they arrived, and with no more than a few waves of Remus's wand, everything was in place, or at least, where he thought to be their rightful place, causing a small Sneakoscope on the corner to start whistling, but Tonks ignored it, deciding she would find whatever she needed whenever she needed. She took off the lid of a butterbeer, handing Remus another as she walked to the table, sliding a roll of parchment towards him.

"You can start."

"Me? But _y__ou_ did everything," he retorted, frowning.

"Yeah, but... I wrote all day long..." Tonks leant her head on the table upon her left arm, her eyes assuming an expression that begged for him to take pity on her, just like a dog asking for meat. "Do you mind?" her voice low and soft, making Remus Lupin completely unable to give her a negative answer.

"Not at all," he said with a fond smile.

Although, little did he know that the reason behind her request had been a different one: mere curiosity of watching him actually produce such perfect handwriting. Tonks propped herself upon her chair much more animated, causing a slight suspicion on Remus's part, but he had the courtesy of not expressing it.

"Thanks!" grinned Tonks, sipping on her butterbeer before hurrying to get him one of her best quills and a bottle of black ink. "So, I... I ran after you once you were transformed and all, but I couldn't keep up with you ― obviously."

"One minute," he asked, filling the traditional heading with their names before start writing an adapted version of what she had said.

A smile tugged the corner of her lips and slowly spread itself widely as Tonks watched him writing. He had the power of making even her name look beautiful, an ostentatious N, a nice curve in the Y, a definitely cute little M, the perfect straight P... Blimey! She could stare at it all day. Her given name most definitely did not look silly or stupid or meaningless or even far too lengthy ― In fact, it was the complete opposite, she found herself wishing it had even more letters so she could appreciate it even more.

"Did I spell it wrong?" questioned Remus, concern crossing his features.

Tonks looked up to him, suddenly all too conscious that she had pore herself over the parchment.

"Oh, no!" she shook her head fiercely, sitting back properly; blush colouring her cheeks and the pink in her hair becoming slightly more strong. "No, it's... _perfectly right_."

"Do you want me to spell it wrong?" his lips turning in a boyish grin.

Tonks chuckled along with him.

"No... It's all right," her thumbs suddenly all too busy on the task of running the length of her butterbeer.

"So, after you couldn't keep up with me you...?"

"Oh, right. I..." she frowned in concentration. "I continued to run to where you had gone because I could hear them howling and then there were loads! All around me! I climbed a tree, but they wouldn't take their eyes off of me and I tried to go to the next tree, but it only dragged more attention to myself, so I took off my jumper and threw it away, making them chase it instead of me and I ran for my life!"

"Wait," he stopped her before she could say another word. "How much did you run after you got rid of them?"

"I don't know," she struggled to remember. "A mile, perhaps. About it, I suppose."

"Um," he wrote it down. "And that was when you saw the fire crabs?"

"Yeah," she adjusted herself on her chair, suddenly uncomfortable.

Remus furrowed his brows, noticing that there was certainly something out of place.

"You all right?"

"'M fine," she refused to meet his eyes. "Then, another lycan appeared and I climbed the tree, they fought, everything caught fire and I left after they did. That's what happened."

Remus swallowed hard. Why all of a sudden was she so uneasy? Had he said something? Offended her somehow?

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! I was there! I saw it! _Damn it!_" she added having accidently knocked her bottle down with an abrupt movement of her elbow.

Remus quickly raised their half-written report before it got stained by her butterbeer.

"_Evanesco!_" he had casted the spell before she had decided on what to do next. "It's okay. No harm done," he smiled, trying to comfort her.

"Sorry, I ― I'm just not too fond of fire crabs..." she admitted.

"It's all right," he assured her. By the look in her eyes, he could tell that there were something else, it was almost as though she was... _scared_, but this was Tonks for Merlin's sake! She was not the kind of girl to be scared of a mere fire crab, he was definitely imagining things. "It's really all right."

Tonks exhaled heavily, annoyed at her clumsiness, but still remarkably grateful at his understanding demeanour. Remus then resumed his writing in order to keep things going and stop her from thinking she had ruined it. When she could no longer hear his quill scratching the parchment, she re-started.

"Then, I walked for a good while ― Don't know how much," she added quickly. "It started to rain and I took cover. I'm not sure where I was, but I knew we had never been there, it was like the trees were more together or something, I don't know. I should take you there later, though. Bet I was really close."

Remus took a moment to analyse what she had just said. Apart from the Forbidden Forest, in the school grounds, he did not remember any bit of it that had its trees very close one from the other. Could it be that she was this close to find their nest? He should not be admired that she had decided not to give up on the mission.

"But then, soon the sun came up and I went to find you aaand you know the rest of the story."

Remus nodded at her smile; grateful that she had spared him of saying he was no less than stupid for leaving. Some minutes later, he had finished the report, not forgetting to add at the end, their intention to go on with the mission for a few more weeks and handed it for her to read it.

"It's great," she told him after a few minutes when she had finished, placing the report on the table. "Way better than my Auror reports. I should hire you to write them the next time."

A chuckle escaped his lips, though he was unsure for a moment if she was indeed joking.

"Thanks... I'll leave it there for Dumbledore," he announced, standing up. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Tonks frowned, trying to remember if there was a problem on leaving the Auror Headquarters by the same time she left the present day, but she did not find one and answered a polite "Sure!"

"Good night then," he said taking his cloak as she opened the door for him.

"Night."

Tonks smiled, watching him begin to climb down the stairs of the old building.

* * *

><p>The following day went on utterly slow for Remus, he could not help but be reminded the last time his days consisted of pure nothing, before the Order, simply sitting on a chair with a good book, waiting for something to happen. He found himself nearly eager to go back to the Scottish Forest, at least it gave him something else to focus on other than the fact that he was an old, unemployed werewolf. Or perhaps, he could be at the Auror Office helping Tonks with her paperwork, just as she had suggested the night before; undoubtedly more pleasant.<p>

What he did not know was that she was just as keen for her shift to end, hoping he could be there with her and certainly she would be done with that damn paperwork and they would be free to work on their mission already, counting the minutes until she could put her foot out of that place. Honestly, if this was what she knew she would have to face, she was not sure if she would have decided to become an Auror by the end of her seventh year. Eventually, however, seven o'clock arrived and she stayed there not a second longer than necessary, nearly running to the Atrium and disapparating.

"Wotcher!" Tonks grinned widely, opening the library's door.

"Hello," Remus greeted happily.

"Sirius is not with you?" she asked, frowning.

"No change," he replied, his mood changing instantly. "Locked himself in his room all day long."

Tonks let out a heavy breath in frustration.

"Wish there was something we could do..."

"So do I," he sighed, knowing that unless they caught Peter or the Dark Lord came out from the shadows, there was absolutely nothing they could do to help Sirius get out of the house.

"So," she began trying to change the subject and stop them from moping over her cousin. "Did Dumbledore say anything?"

"No," he informed her. "He hasn't come here yet."

"Oh... Okay," she let her back slid a bit down out of sheer laziness. "Any ideas on our next... approach?"

"Um," he cleared his throat. "From what I've been thinking before, I'd say the best should be to infiltrate, see whoever seems more likely to join the Order and talk to them."

"Forest then?" she questioned, excitement instantly filling her and she propped herself back up on the armchair.

"Mind if we just try to make a map tonight?" asked Remus apologetically. "Still recovering," he put his hand upon a sore spot in his chest.

"Oh, Merlin! No! Not at all! Sorry, I ―" she stood up, biting her lip. "You stay right there, I'll get the maps at home, be back in a sec. Blimey, I'm a horrible person!"

Remus watched her storming out of the library. Horrible? Certainly she was not that. She had offered to do something for him, just so he could rest for a little while longer, how come that made her a horrible person? No, she wasn't. He was the horrible one for cutting short all her thrill on wanting to explore the forest, just because he did not have the energy to do so. He sighed. When would he stop perturbing her so much?

Not five minutes later, Tonks had burst back through the door, her breathing somewhat accelerated.

"Here," she let them fall on the table and sat.

"All right," Remus got one and unrolled it. "So, where were you? Around here?" he guessed pointing to an area.

"Um, no," she pulled the map a bit closer to her. "More like here, I think," she pointed to an end of the map. "And then, I went through here," she smiled, showing with her hand how she had made her way out of the are they knew so far.

Remus nodded, thinking for a moment.

"There's this glade here, but they're not using it like we've checked."

Tonks bit her lip, seeing his brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to follow any line of thought that would help them have a clue on where they were hiding.

"I don't think you were very, very close," he said at last. "Certainly closer than we've been before, but still. See these caves here and here?"

She nodded as he pointed.

"They're using neither," he recalled, "so there should be a rather long area without a place for them to take cover and we'll need to get past it if we are to find them."

Tonks nodded again, realising that they could not simply apparate in an area that neither of them knew, otherwise Remus would have done just that the minute Dumbledore assigned him the mission.

"Are you sure you were here?" he questioned seriously.

"A hundred percent? No," Tonks admitted looking at him and unable to stop her mind from thinking that he looked so bloody good completely focused like that. "It ― It was dark and I wasn't exactly paying attention as I ran, so I don't know. But I do think so, though."

"Of course," Remus offered her a smile. "Well, we'll start there; if it's not, then we'll see what we do."

* * *

><p>It wasn't until two days later that Remus was finally feeling good enough to walk for a good while in a cold forest and he surprised her by waiting for her already outside the Headquarters, trying to show her all the enthusiasm she had when he asked for some time to recover and sparing her of asking if he was all right, the same awkward question from the night before.<p>

Tonks apparated them to where she was when the rain began to fall. She looked up and was able to see under the light of a waning moon, the precise spot where she had seen the fire being extinguished, an uncomfortable lump taking place in her throat and she repressed a shiver, looking the opposite way as she swallowed.

"I remember walking this way," she pointed to their left. "But I found nothing, so we should take a different one, right?"

Remus took in his surroundings for a moment. He could bet all his short amount of gold that he had never been there, which could only mean that they were either really close to the nest or that they were completely lost deep into the forest and nowhere near the werewolves.

"Sure," he nodded, taking the first step.

Not wanting to draw far too much attention for themselves, they walked silently for what seemed to be hours for Remus, but had not been more in reality than one, their ears completely focused on any different noise that would come, but perceived nearly none but their cloaks rustling whilst they touched the ground. He could not help, but perceive the high contrast between her shining, scarlet Auror robes with his shabby, grey ones; an admirable metaphor of their lives. Thereafter, they were forced to admit defeat for the night and head back.

Their week went on with the exact same routine repeating itself every single day; the minute she was released from her Auror duties, Tonks would rush to Grimmauld Place and they discussed the tactics and explored the forest some more, even though it seemed that luck was not on their side. The excitement that had been built inside them before they left was always gone when they came back later at night.

Very little was able to take their minds from the mission, specially Tonks's, keen to finally prove herself to the Order with a successful mission, not Ginny's letter from Hogwarts telling her between little cues how awful were Professor Umbridge's classes, but despite it she was still enjoying the school and missing the new home she had had during the summer.

Barely her father's birthday on Saturday with lots of her muggle relatives; in fact, they had made the party somewhat frustrating for her since their presence stopped her from morphing at will and enliven the festivity some more, causing Tonks to sit whilst eating a piece of the Tonkses' cake, no less than her favourite, and come up with a mischievous plan for the next morning, when she would finally have a day off. She was not sure why, but wake up Remus with a loud shout of 'Wotcher!' did seem a lot amusing.

And most certainly not her job, which, since the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had decided that they ought to re-do eight months of work, had consisted of pure paperwork between small breaks for procrastination. Each of them, when shared with him, proved to Remus how she lived busy and enthusiastically, just the complete opposite of himself.


	18. 17 Olivia Knight

**A/N 1:** Wotcher, guys! Didn't expect to hear from me so soon, am I right? ;) Well, I've got quite some free time in my hands, so writing! \o/ I wrote this chapter because I really wanted to introduce Olivia to you guys, some of you may know her from By My Side, I created her a loooong time ago, but only now she's coming up. ^_^ Thank you one more time for your great reviews they always make my day and I'll love you forever if you left what you thought of this in the box down there. Please? Thanks!

Now for some anons I'd like to answer:  
>For Noémie, who I should've answered in the last chapter, but I forgot, please, forgive me. Yes! Your English is understandable! Don't worry! And thank you very much!<br>And for Júlia, que eu tô adivinhando que o site comeu o ú, porque ele gosta de engolir acentos no nome, mas se for Jlia mesmo, me desculpa! XD Sim, eu sou brasileira! Muito obrigada por todas as suas reviews nas minha histórias, fiquei sorrindo idiotamente um tempão depois de lê-las! Sobre o Remo ler pra ela, bom eu pensei durante isso muito tempo, sério, mais do que eu quero admitir e assim, é possível, mas com certeza não foram muitas vezes, tipo umas 3 ou 4, 5 estourando; o Sirius muito mais. :) Enfim, brigada de novo! ^_^

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 17: Olivia Knight<span>**

Tonks opened her eyes slowly on that Sunday morning and immediately nuzzled inside her covers, shutting her eyes close and ready to fall asleep once again, but her mind gradually reminded her what she had planned and a smirk started to make its way to her lips. The next instant she had thrown the covers aside and jumped out of bed, feeling in such a good mood that not even a moping Sirius would be able to bring her down. She made her way to the toilet and humming a song, she brushed her teeth before heading back to her bedroom and getting new robes, donning them before disappearing; breakfast could certainly wait some more.

She apparated on the last step and carefully opened the door to the Grimmauld Place number twelve; the sweet smell of pancakes invading her nostrils. Maybe one wouldn't make that much of a difference, right? She started to make her way to the kitchen, but half-way through it, she realised that by the indistinct chattering someone was there already and if she knew herself very well, she would start talking and Merlin knew when she would leave the room. With a sigh she resumed her way to the staircase, paying special attention not to trip over the umbrella stand.

Although, she felt like singing the whole way to Remus's bedroom, she stopped herself for she did not wish to wake him up before the right time. Tonks made her way to Sirius's room in order to get herself a partner in crime and who else better than the one person alive that knew Remus so well? She climbed until the last floor only to find Sirius's bedroom already empty. Well, she would just have to go by herself.

As silently as she could, she tiptoed to the first floor, stopping with her hand on the doorknob and taking a deep breath, unable to stop the grin and mentally recalling the last time she had been inside that very bedroom. Okay, so she would enter and walk silently until the side of his bed, bent down as closely to his ear as she could muster and yell to the top of her lungs. She had to cover her mouth with her hand in order to not burst into laughter. After evening her breath, she turned the doorknob and the door swung open. The room was dark and she drew out her wand before lightening it only to find that it was... empty?

Disappointment started to fill her, she had planned it during most of the party the night before, went to bed thinking of it, not to mention it was her first thought when she woke up that morning, okay, second once removed the one about going back to sleep in such cosy covers. Tonks furrowed her brows and let out a deep breath. Guess she did not have much of a choice besides going downstairs and have some breakfast. Come to think of it... Remus and Sirius were most likely the ones she had heard chattering in the kitchen when she came in.

Remus was flicking the last pancakes on the pan the minute the door was opened by Tonks, her hair a shade of yellow as bright as the sun, and he smiled at her.

"Good morning, Tonks," he said as he took his seat.

"Wow! Fell of the bed?" Sirius grinned, helping himself with a couple of pancakes.

"No..." she shot him a glare, moving to get herself a pancake. "Wanted to get you two out of bed for a change... But I guess I'll have to wake up earlier next time," she tilted her head slightly, biting her pancake happily.

"Ha!" exclaimed Sirius. "Moony's always up with the sun, you'll have to try harder for that!"

Remus smiled sheepishly, avoiding her look by concentrating on his breakfast.

"Unless, of course, he was out howling the night before," Sirius winked, smirking.

Tonks rolled her eyes at her cousin, but still feeling so much better due his joyful mood. Seven days was what had taken him to get better, right? Well, she did not think he could take more than that either way.

"Had it all planned since yesterday, though. Pity," she shrugged. "Anyway, got a day off today," she announced. "I'm at your services," she offered Remus a mocked bow, smiling. "I just need the night off. The Magpies match's gonna be on," she grinned happily at Sirius, who smiled back at her.

"Can't miss it," said Sirius and for a moment, Tonks did not know if the slight irony she had caught was a product of her own imagination.

Afternoon came, after a half decent lunch prepared by Kreacher, with they all working at the library or rather Remus and Tonks were trying to map the new areas they had explored the past week and Sirius kept interrupting them, not that either of them minded; they much preferred to have him cheerful, disturbing their work than moping, locked up in his room. They were enjoying a rare moment of silence when they heard Professor Dumbledore's voice coming from the corridor, bringing a frown to all their features. What was the headmaster doing there so early? And it seemed as though he was accompanied by a voice that Tonks thought to be quite familiar... Could it be...? No, certainly not. Not without letting her know beforehand. However, the instant the library's door swung open, she had her confirmation: yes, it definitely was.

"Here is the library where ―" the headmaster's say was cut by Tonks knocking down his new recruit ― none other than her best friend, whom she did not see for nearly ten months, since the first task of the TriWizard Tournament, when she had came along with her co-workers to help contain the dragons used in said task ― Olivia Knight.

"_My good Merlin_, **Liv!**" Tonks shouted; her hair had become an extremely bright shade of pink as she got off of her friend. "_You're here! I can't believe! Why didn't you tell me?_" she demanded to know, helping her friend to get up.

"Well, I can't exactly say that I'm joining the Order of the Phoenix on a letter for you, can I? Besides, I wanted to make you a surprise," she placed her hand on the back of her head, searching for some injury after being thrown so abruptly on the floor. "But if I knew you'd try to murder me, I'd have found a way to let you know."

"Wise decision, Ms. Knight," Dumbledore grinned at them. "I trust you're well accompanied by Nymphadora. I'll leave you now."

"Oh, yes! Thank you very much, headmaster," Olivia nodded at him.

"You're most welcome, thank you for joining us," he nodded back. "I'm calling up a meeting for this evening," he informed, looking at Remus and Sirius, who stared still open-mouthed at Tonks, neither had expected in the slightest to see her crossing the room in less than a second and doing with Dumbledore's guest pretty much what she did with the umbrella stand. "A quarter past six. If you could please inform everyone you can, I need to get back to Hogwarts."

"Will do," assured Remus.

Dumbledore swirled on his heels and was soon climbing down the staircase. As Remus and Sirius continued to glance at the girls not knowing what was really happening, Tonks was suddenly reminded that they haven't got a clue at who her friend was.

"Oh, right, sorry. Liv, that is my cousin ― and **don't** freak out, _please_, he's innocent, I swear, we just can't prove it," Tonks watched for an instant as Olivia's eyes widened, pleading with her own for her friend to believe her. "That's Sirius Black."

It was obvious that Olivia was trying her best not to freak out and absorb the information that the man they had all believed for over a decade to be a mass murderer, was in fact, innocent and was right in front of her, smirking.

"Hi," she finally managed to let out.

"If you want a mass murder, though," Sirius winked.

"And that's Remus Lupin," she added quickly, taking the decision of not adding the information that Remus was Sirius's best friend. "Guys, this is Olivia Knight, my best friend."

Only now Remus could see her better. She seemed like a very friendly young woman, an energetic twinkle playing in her light brown eyes, pretty much like Tonks's; although, he doubted that someone could be as energetic as Tonks was; but he suspected that one needed to be an enthusiastic as well to be Tonks's best friend. Straight hair was coming all the way down to her shoulders, an almost blonde, very light brown shade and she was an inch or two shorter than Tonks.

"Nice to meet you." Olivia seemed somewhat better already or at least had managed to hide it well.

"Likewise," Remus replied.

"So, I'm yours for the day," Olivia let her know. "I'm gone after the meeting, though, not trusting Charlie with my babies for too long."

By 'her babies' Tonks knew she meant the four young Hungarian Horntails she had under her care and she could not help but to smile, Charlie was always one way too brute to look after them, might kill them by overfeeding or even forgetting to feed them altogether.

"You don't mind, do you, Remus?" asked Tonks, looking at Remus and biting her bottom lip anxiously. When she finally had all day to work on their mission, her best friend suddenly shows up in town, not exactly the best timing, but then again, she knew she would feel even worse if she had to work whilst Olivia was in London.

Him? Remus John Lupin? Stopping her from having what would certainly be an amusing day just because he would like to be with her drawing a map and then exploring the forest for about an hour? He had certainly had more than his fair share of keeping her from doing what she wanted to.

"By no means, of course not," Remus answered with a fond smile.

"Thanks so much!" she grinned, almost as though she was just a child asking for her parents' permission to ditch school and go out with her friends and well, he did not feel any different from it, he could easily be an younger uncle of hers, pretty much like Sirius. "I owe you one!" she shouted dragging her friend out of his sight.

"Hey, can we go to the Diagon Alley?" Olivia asked as Tonks opened the door. "I jus ― I kinda miss it... That and I wanted to see Rach too."

"Sure!" Tonks closed the door behind herself. "It's your call," she smiled and the next minute they were apparating at the door of the Leaky Cauldron.

"How're things around here?" asked Olivia. "Reckon you've been busy."

"More than just busy, I'm telling you!" she grinned. "This is my first day off in yonks! And I was going to use for the Or ― to organise a mission," she corrected herself, looking behind her back, but as they were already at the end of the bar, no one seemed to be paying too much attention at them. "So it wasn't really a day off until now. Remus and I still have so much to do..."

Tonks touched the brick with the tip of her wand, the wall formed a large archway in order to allow them in and they began to walk down the road.

"I mean, I've barely had time to really work out!" she declared. "Barely remember the last time I went out for a morning run. Mad-Eye's gonna want to top me if he ever finds out!"

"Is he in any position to rumble something?" questioned Olivia. "I know he was brilliant!" she added, not wanting to let Tonks get the wrong impression. "But how's he? Like _really_?"

"Well..." began Tonks. "He still knows the job better than anyone I know. But he's a bit ― Okay, not just a bit. Safety's still his weak point, you know, he's more than just dotty on it... Gone barking, I'm afraid," she looked down to her feet. Tonks had never given too much thought into Mad-Eye's mental stability, but well, it seemed to have just hit her like a ton of bricks that he was most definitely not in his best shape and certainly would not last forever; eventually he would... need to retire... even for the Order.

"Fancy an ice cream?" asked Olivia as they passed by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and feeling that a change of subject was in order.

"Sure," she nodded with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

Olivia got a vanilla sundae as Tonks ordered one of pistachio with chocolate pieces.

"Hm," Olivia grinned at her with a mouthful as soon as they had taken a table outside the Parlour and took her time to swallow before she announced, "I'll start."

Tonks had begun to furrow her brows when she understood what her friend had meant and rolled her eyes, mocking, but grinned. She knew that Olivia wanted to start her favourite pastime whenever the two of them were together: watch random guys and decide if they would date them if they ever were approached by them; frankly, it was not Tonks's favourite, but she went on to make her friend happy, one thing she would never really understand was Liv's need to interfere in her love life.

"You're at it again, huh?" Tonks sighed, putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. "Fine, 'ave it your way."

"'Kay, behind your back the one ― Blimey, Dora! Does it kill you to be _discreet_?"

Olivia faced her sundae to hide herself for Tonks had just turned herself, carelessly searching for the guy her friend had begun to mention.

"What?" Tonks asked, somewhat indignantly. "He hasn't even seen us."

"You don't even know who I was talking about!"

"Dark hair and heavy boots watching Potage's Cauldron's shop window?" guessed Tonks.

"How did you ―" Olivia started as Tonks got another peek.

"That's a no," she stated.

"Why?"

"He's spitting at the seller," she pointed out. "Don't fancy having my boyfriend spitting on my face when I talk to him."

"Talking now for a change, eh?" jested Olivia.

"Oh, shut up!" Tonks got another spoonful of ice cream to occupy herself, knowing full well that her friend meant her last boyfriend, the one with whom, even though he was not exactly a sex god, things between them tended to stay rather... _physical_. That was probably why it did not last for long.

"All right then..." she looked around, searching for the next possibly suitor. "Dragon hide coat entering Gringotts."

Tonks looked all the way to the end of the alley where the ostentatious building was. Indeed the bloke seemed handsome, but...

"No," Tonks lowered her face to the ice cream and as Olivia said nothing she glanced back up only to see her friend's puzzled look. "What? He's standing there with those shining robes... Feels like he's showing off or something. Don't like him."

"'Kay..."

Tonks did not feel she was very convinced about it, but she did not care. Honestly, she just did not like him, true she did not know him, but still.

"Not gonna catch the match tonight?" asked Tonks whilst Olivia gazed all around the alley.

"Nah." Olivia returned her attention to her ice cream. "You're gonna have to cheer for both of us. I really need to be there tomorrow and, you know, long way home."

"Yeah, I know." Tonks raised her eyebrows playfully. "Don't worry, though, I'll make you proud, hair and all!"

"Ha," Olivia chuckled. "Thanks."

"Already told Remus that I'm off duty tonight," said Tonks. "Just can't be arsed, I'm listening to my match."

Olivia touched her arm to call her attention and the instant their eyes met, she indicated with hers to their side. A man passed nearby their table, eyebrow pierced and a small yet mischievous grin targeted directly at Tonks, who sucked in a breath as he passed by them and winked at her.

"Merlin, no!" Tonks nearly shouted when she figured he was far enough.

"Care to elaborate?"

"He's got a golden tooth!" she pointed out. "Don't wanna find out what else he's got in there."

"...Fair enough," assented Olivia.

They watched people walking up and down the street, not one seemed for Olivia to be Tonks's type or if anyone did, she did not mention. Tonks waved at Proudfoot when he passed by them and smiled at her, certainly enjoying a Sunday off like herself, the one day of the week in which there were only a couple of Aurors in the Headquarters, and even then it was just for the case of an emergency showing up, not that many of them had showed up these days. However, whilst she knew his were pretty much been planned for a whole week, hers had just become a joyful day due to a sudden change of plans, not that it would not have been a joyful one, but an outside one at least.

"Too bad Remus and I got very little worked on our mission today," Tonks exposed. "We'll have to make it up tomorrow, cut off a few hours of sleep... Doesn't matter, though, should be fun."

"Huh," Olivia seemed surprised for an instant, watching carefully the spoon in her hand.

"What? Spoons in Romania have a different shape now?" mocked Tonks.

"Is he the one?" Olivia shot at her.

"...Who is what?" questioned an utterly puzzled Tonks.

"Remus," stated Olivia simply. "The one responsible for all your nos," she had that look that plainly showed she knew something and just wanted a confirmation.

Tonks was nonplussed. Of course Liv had been right about her love interests in more than one occasion, that girl knew her better than she cared to admit, but definitely not in this case.

"Where did you get this ― this ― this _insane_ idea?"

"Oh, I don't know." Olivia pretended to be in deep thought. "You've denied three blokes that I was prepared to bet my life on you saying yes with nothing but lame excuses and in one hour we've been together you've mentioned the bloke three times when we're not even talking about something remotely close to him!"

"You've gone crazy, Liv. That's bollocks!" She leant back on her chair, completely lost at how on Earth her best friend could think she liked Remus. Well, of course she liked him, but she did not _like_ him. "He's nice and all, but seriously, we're just mates! Every time I mentioned him there was a very good reason: this last time, I saw Proudfoot and thought that we'd need to work more tomorrow to compensate; when I was talking about the match I simply said that I had told him I would _not_ work with him because of the match and the other time ― When was the other time?"

"When we got in and you said your first day off in yonks would be spent with him," Olivia answered promptly.

"Exactly!" bellowed Tonks, her hair becoming bright orange. "Working! I said I was glad that I didn't have to be work with him for the first time in yonks because I got to be here with you!"

Olivia sighed audibly.

"If you say so."

"I know so!" Tonks stormed. "Merlin, Liv! You don't believe me, do you?"

Olivia raised her brows and hands defensively, but not saying a word.

"You got it all wrong this time, Liv. I'm telling you, we're working on a mission and _yes_, he's lovely, but ends right there!" she declared, hoping her friend would finally understand. "We're just mates," she repeated. "We're just mates."

"Really thought he wasn't your type and sort of old for you, it's just ― All right, all right," Olivia said suddenly and not looking at her. "I have a bloke I'm quite serious about is the thing."

"You do?" Tonks's face lit up immediately. So that was why she was being so bloody nosy.

Olivia nodded, clearly blushing and still not looking at her friend.

"_That_ you could have said on a letter!" Tonks protested. "Why didn't you? Doesn't matter. Spill it out. Everything. What's his name?"

"Oh... Merlin!" Olivia rubbed the blush away from her cheeks and suck in a breath. "Alex. His name's Alex. He... he works with the administration and ― he kind of likes dragons, but at a rather safe distance," she chuckled.

"So, Charlie is really in the past then?"

"Yeah..." Olivia nodded, grinning. "Just good friends."

Tonks smiled, glad that her friend had finally moved on after so many years. She was truly happy about her news.

"I never showed you the picture!" she remembered and pulled it from a pocket, handing it to Tonks.

The photo showed four young Hungarian Horntails fighting for a bit more space within an artificial nest, occasionally one or the other managed to let out some fire and rest for a while longer without being troubled by any of their siblings.

"This isn't Alex," Tonks pointed out, giving it back.

"Cute little things, aren't they?" Olivia smiled watching them.

"They're... cuter than the adult ones," exposed Tonks, allowing her friend to get away from the interrogatory. For now.

"You never learn to appreciate them..."

"Forgive me if they breathe fire," Tonks retorted.

Olivia rolled her eyes.

"Only when provoked."

"Yeah, and it takes as much as looking at them to provoke them." Tonks exhaled heavily, only now noticing how ginger her hair was as they stood in silent for a minute until she broke it. "You're gonna have to owl me a picture of you two, you know."

Olivia sighed, offered her a half-grin and finished her ice cream before standing up.

"Let's just go see Rach," she suggested, looking up to the darkening sky. "I don't wanna be here when it start to piddle it down."

Tonks wolfed down the rest of her ice cream, changing her hair back to pink and getting an odd look from an old lady passing by before they began to walk down the street towards the Slug & Jiggers Apothecary.

"How are your... you know, other missions?" hinted Olivia.

"Not bad," Tonks shrugged. "Spent some nights guarding... something at work... for the headmaster and a week ago Remus and I" she glared at her before Olivia could say a word, "went to try to find some... lycans on a full moon night. It was fun... until I met a few fire crabs. Yeah," she added seeing Olivia's face. "Some fire, obviously, but I hacked. We didn't find them so we're trying one more time; not on the full moon this time, though. Well, we plan to find them before that in any case, been proven tricky."

"And did he help you at least? The Remus bloke? With the fire?" enquired Olivia.

"Oh, no," Tonks swallowed hard. "We were sort of apart then, you see."

"Got it." Olivia sighed. "Not exactly the gentleman kind, is he?"

Tonks opened her mouth to retort, but as they reached the apothecary and entered, she was unable to argue about Remus's gentleman-like deeds. Inside, they spotted Rachel with her back turned to the counter, organising some bat wings in the shelves.

"What's a customer to do here to get a seller to help them?" asked Olivia in mock irritation.

Rachel turned her head, nearly angry at whoever did not have the patience to wait for a single minute, but her face lit up the instant she saw who was at the other side of the counter and she did not even bother to turn it around to hug her friend tightly.

"Hey!"

"How you doing?" grinned Olivia the minute she let her go.

"I'm great," Rach finally stepped from behind the counter.

"Guess who the new boss is?" Tonks elbowed Liv, her eyebrows pointing at their friend.

"Get away!" Olivia looked from one to another and, by the colour of Rachel's cheeks, she knew Tonks had said the truth.

"Not two months ago," Rachel confessed.

"Nang! Congrats!" Olivia winked.

"So what you doing in town?" wondered Rachel.

"Getting some... missions," Olivia looked around the shop. "You know..." she indicated Tonks with her eyes and Rachel understood what she meant right away.

"Oh, right," she smiled. "Of course."

"Just now, though," Olivia began, "we've been gabbing on a bloke Dora got her eyes upon, _lovely_ and all, but she's been rabbitting that they're just mates." She rose her arms defensively one more time, but not without a jesting grin.

Tonks rolled her eyes and exhaled heavily as the girls giggled.

"You know who I need?" Tonks burst out. "Lucy, always twigged me, that one."

"But helped us behind your back!" Liv reminded her earning a glare from Tonks. "Someone needed to distract you."

"Once."

"Twice."

"Don't bother," Rachel said after the giggles faded. "She's out on a... _project_."

Lucy Torv was another friend of them; however, as she worked with Wizarding Architecture, she was often out of town, travelling around the whole country to work on projects for different houses for her clients.

"I'm doomed," Tonks let out her breath in an annoyed puff between the girls' chuckles. "But hey," she called for their attention. "Olivia's got a new boyfriend," a smirk of revenge coming to her lips as she folded her arms over her chest.

* * *

><p>Remus got the Daily Prophet and went through it, unsure of why he did not wish for Sirius to catch him glancing at the last pages, where he was sure to be the ones that held the information he had been keen to find, but luck seemed to be not on his side. His eyes scanning the articles in hope of anything that might help him, but he found none, all of them seemed to focus much more on the scaling of the teams rather than when the match would happen. He reckoned whoever was into Quidditch already had that information from weeks of listening it at the very same time.<p>

Finally, after a couple of hours searching through the past week ones, he was forced to come to the conclusion that he did not know precisely when the match would happen and the only way he would get said information was asking Sirius, but how could he when his friend already suspected he liked his cousin? Well, second cousin. Not that it was true because it most definitely was not, but he did not want to fan the flames.

"Sirius?" Remus called after him whilst his best friend searched for something to feed Buckbeak with.

"Yeah?"

"You don't happen to know when the match is, do you?" Remus tried to sound nonchalant, leaning his back on the wall and glancing at a small hole in his robes.

"What match?" Sirius looked puzzled at him for an instant before resuming his search.

"The one Tonks will be listening to," he answered simply, winning the fight against the blush that started to colour his cheeks.

"At eight," he emerged from under the counter with a couple of dead rats. "Why?"

"I... jus ―" he stuttered. "I needed to get a map with her, but I didn't know if I'd have time before it started. And I doubted she'd want me disturbing her match," he laughed nervously.

"You're going to need luck, Moony, my friend," Sirius walking towards the staircase, "so Dumbledore doesn't want to talk out his arse."

"Could show some respect, you know," Lupin pointed out.

"I'll show some respect when he shows some respect at my abilities!" yelled Sirius before slamming the door of his mother's room.

And as much as he did not want to, as much as he appreciated, with everything he got, all that the headmaster had done for him, Remus could not stop himself from thinking, _Or at your sanity_.

* * *

><p>"It's started the Order of the Phoenix meeting of September seventeenth," Dumbledore announced when Tonks and Olivia were slipping into the kitchen.<p>

The meeting began precisely at a quarter past six, not a minute later. The headmaster started it by taking reports at all the shifts from Ministry workers guarding the prophecy at the Department of Mysteries as well as the ones from the Hogwarts professors patrolling the corridors and the grounds. Other infiltrations had some members trying to make them happen, such as Mundungus, attempting to have his fellow dealers believe that the Dark Lord had returned and watch out for themselves. Professor Dumbledore also introduced Tonks's friend to all the members as their newest recruit, getting smiles and murmurs of approval to which she returned, blushing furiously. Furthermore, until now, Hagrid had not arrived, but Dumbledore had yet to show any sign of worry towards him.

Remus thought that for once luck seemed to be on his side for, as very little had happened since the students' return to Hogwarts, an hour and a half later Dumbledore was ending the meeting with another reminder for Sirius not to leave the house and a request for them all to take a picture. Wait, what?

The professor had levitated a camera and the sound of chairs being pushed filled the room instantly, most of the members felt quite happy at the perspective of having a picture taken of the Order, some on the other hand, did not. Sirius stood up and dragged himself towards the crowd, pocketing his hands and gazing at the camera as miserably as he could, Mad-Eye near him looking not angry, but not cheerful either. Once they had all positioned themselves, Dumbledore counted to three, but instead of taking the picture, he said "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" before finally taking the picture and not even Sirius was able to stop himself from smiling.

"Molly," the headmaster called. "Would you be too kind and get the film, develop it and give the photos for everyone?"

"Of course, Albus," Molly replied.

"Thank you very much and I expect to see you by next Wednesday," Dumbledore added raising his voice tone.

Whilst the wizards and witches bid their goodbyes and the kitchen emptied, chattering started to fill the room as Tonks turned to Olivia and hugged her tightly.

"Can't believe you have to go already!" she said, unmistakably sad.

"Yeah," Olivia sighed.

"Promise me you'll be back as soon as you can," demanded Tonks.

"I will," said Olivia. "I just don't know when 'soon' is gonna be," she smiled drearily. "You, too, could show up when you got some time."

"I don't know, Liv, things are getting really complicated around here," she pointed out.

"I know, but do try, all right?"

"I will," promised Tonks.

Remus watched quietly as they took leave, waving at Olivia when she said happily "Goodbye, Remus!" and then "Sirius," with a forced smile. Watched Tonks accompany her outside after getting her broom. He sat down again near Sirius, a strange feeling of something he might need to do coming to him, but he utterly ignore for what could he possibly need to do after watching her leave the house? Until Sirius reminded him:

"Didn't you have some maps to get?" he said. "It's seven past eight already, pray something have happened at the stadium so the match is late. She's not gonna be happy if you stop her from listening to it."

Remus's eyes widened and he stood still for a short instant before getting up.

"Right," Remus got a few bottles of butterbeer in the pantry and stormed out the door.

Tonks apparated directly inside the main room of her flat, her first move being waving her wand to the radio and the narrator's voice started to fill the room. Sure she was still deeply sad at her friend's early departure, but turning on the match was probably the one thing that would take her mind off of it at the moment.

"Maddock's got the Quaffle, he passed to Campbell, back to Maddock ― He's going to shoot ― No, he passed back to Campbell ― Johnson is free! He feinted AND SCORES!"

"HA!" Tonks grinned messing up with her hair and letting it assume the colours black and white.

"Puddlemere thirty, Magpies ten."

"_What?_"

Dumbledore had to insist on taking that picture tonight, hadn't he? For over two months within the Order, he had to choose tonight? Tonks was, however, stopped from getting angry at the headmaster's terrible timing and got angry instead at a knock on her door. Maybe she was not meant to listen to this game at all. Who could possibly want ― _What_ could someone possibly want from her at that precise moment? Couldn't she be left alone at one Sunday night?

Tonks marched to the door, not bothering with any safety and opened it at once.

"Wha ―" she began to shoot angrily at whoever was at the door, but a sight she was not at all expecting for, was before her.

Remus raised the butterbeers before saying "Thought you might like some company," with a timid smile.

"Oh. Sure," she stepped aside to let him in. "It's a, um, nice surprise."

"Well, you did seem rather sad when you left, so..." he gazed at his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine, actually," she told him.

"Oh... Um, oh!" his eyes widened. "If you want I can ―" he pointed back at the door.

"Oh, no, stay," she asked. "I quite like your friends," she grinned taking a bottle from his hand and pulling the stopper before sipping on it, walking to her table.

"What's the score?" questioned Remus as she kicked a chair aside for him.

"We're losing," she admitted. "Thirty to ten ― You _are _a Magpies fan, right?"

"I ―" he stammered. "You see ―"

"Davies. Brown, she's getting close now!"

"You don't have one?"

Remus sharpened a breath, but shook his head, surprised then to see Tonks smiling at him before flicking her wand towards her room, the next minute a small badge was making its way to her hand.

"You are now," she stated, buttoning the black and white item that crested a tiny magpie to his robes.

"...All right," he smiled at her.

"― and Brown SCORES!"

Tonks exhaled heavily, sliding a bit down her chair whilst sipping on her bottle.

"Wait, wait wait! The referee is signing a foul! The goal isn't validated and Johnson positions himself."

Remus returned the grin Tonks shot at him. How could someone be so happy over a potential goal?

"Taylor is circling the posts, Johnson shoots ― and misses it!"

"Oh, come on!" Tonks yelled at the radio.

"Brown has the Quaffle once again, she dodges Campbell ―" A loud 'ouch' coming from the whole amount of voices at the stadium was heard. "That, my friend, has got to hurt! A Bludger right in the stomach thrown at her by Roberts ― Davies got the Quaffle ― No, Maddock stole it from him, Brown's _still _trying to breathe."

"Can he do that?" asked Remus if somewhat confused.

"Which team are you cheering for, Remus?" Tonks furrowed her brows.

"Oh, right..." he grinned at her, but she simply shook her head in disapproval, or perhaps it was a mocked one, he could not say for sure.

"CAMPBELL IS DIVING! That's right, lads, Lennox Campbell is diving, Williams is trying to catch up with him. That's the snitch! It really is the snitch! Uh oh, abrupt turn to the left... and it's gone. A nice Bludger from Hill to distract the Magpies seeker is the responsible for the snitch to disappear once again."

"Now, that should be a foul!" pointed out Remus.

"Fast learner," grinned Tonks.

"I did spend a lot of time with James and Sirius, you know," he reminded her.

"Of course," she chuckled. "And I'm sure they were not at all biased to the Gryffindor team."

"Not at all," Remus confirmed.

Forty-five minutes later and the Magpies had a disadvantage of four goals; Remus was beginning to notice that Tonks was not in her best mood. Two hours after that and nine goals behind in the score, she had paced around her drawing-room at least twenty times. At three in the morning and with lots of empty bottles of butterbeer, Remus had discovered she had a quite extended number of bad words to be directed at the players, both from hers and from the adversary's teams. Moreover, he had also discovered that her reactions alone were a far better spectacle than a boring Quidditch match being narrated and he had spent the majority of the time watching Tonks.

"That's right, chap, another one for Davies! Puddlemere scored again; one more and Lennox might give up for the night. And here we were thinking that the bird would eat the bulrush, eh! Three hundred and ten to a hundred and seventy."

"I'm telling you, we should send Bradley abroad and never see him again, ever! Sell him for a single Galleon 'cause that's what his worth it! I mean, isn't it, Remus?"

Remus nodded slowly, but with her eyes so focused on the stereo, she did not see.

"WILLIAMS SAW IT! WILLIAMS SAW IT! He's going to catch, he's going to! Campbell left him behind, Campbell is on the lead! They're diving now, they're diving!"

"Remus? REMUS, WAKE UP! YOU'RE MISSING THE BEST PART!" She started shaking his arm.

"I'm up, Tonks," he informed her. "I wasn't sleeping."

"He's gotta catch it! Come on! COME ON, CAMPBELL!" Her fingernails were twisting his sleeve and she was biting her lip so fiercely that Remus was sure she would start drawing blood at any second. "BE USEFUL FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!"

Tonks stood up and her eyes were now completely unfocused, although they were glancing at the radio, Remus knew she was imagining the hunt as if she was at the stadium. Her knuckles had gone white from grasping his sleeve and he could not take his eyes off of her.

"Williams is regaining speed, he's coming ― Another Bludger from Hill, but they were just too fast this time. They're really close, both hands in the air ― LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE MAGPIES WIN!"

Tonks's eyes widened for a second. "We won," she turned her head to Remus leisurely. "We won!" a smile started to spread in her lips and Remus could not help but to mirror it.

"Yeah ―"

Before he could say another word, Tonks had grabbed his face and pressed her lips fiercely against his cheek. She let him go after a long moment and started laughing out of sheer contentment.

"That is why I fucking love them! They're the _best_ Quidditch team in the WORLD!" Tonks announced, re-starting to laugh.

Remus chuckled at how much a captured snitch could change one's view at their team. That was one of the things he had always find rather odd about Quidditch, fans were always complaining about this or about that, but after a victory they were invariably cheering and celebrating, no matter what problems it might have. Some sort of slavery that he would never understand, that was why he decided to keep it to supporting the Gryffindor team and precisely none after he graduated, he was already a slayer of his condition, he did not wish to have something else ruling his life. However, as he lay in his bed that night, with a tingling cheek and watching his newest possession, a badge cresting a black magpie, he was not entirely sure why, but he knew his opinion was on the verge of changing. Maybe he liked Quidditch.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** Also, was that game confusing? I didn't think so, but I knew what was happening and who was playing for each team, but I really would like your opinion as an outsider! Pretty please? Thanks!


	19. 18 Outcome

**CHAPTER 18: Outcome**

"Moony?"

Sirius murmur was the first sound Remus heard on the following morning, as well as he felt a bright light upon him before he had even opened his eyes. He groaned in response.

"Moony, are you all right?"

Slowly, he opened his lids, seeing the blinding light of a wand and hardly distinguishing Sirius's silhouette behind it, Remus shut his eyes close once more.

"I'll be better once you've put the light out," he retorted hoarsely whilst assuming a sitting position.

"Nox!" Sirius waved to the few candles to light them up, walking a few steps away from his bed.

"What's wrong?" questioned Remus, searching for his own wand on the bedside table and accidentally dropping the badge. For Sirius to wake him up in the middle of the night, something must have happened.

Sirius slowly walked over to the window and the fern green curtains flew open with a flick of his wand, allowing the bright sunlight to enlighten his room. "It's nine in the morning."

Perhaps it wasn't the middle of the night... But it still did not explain what exactly he was doing in his room.

"...And?"

"And you're never in bed after eight!" he pointed out, stopping to get the badge Remus had toppled. "I was afraid you may have caug ― What's this?"

"That ― Ahn... I... I might have become a Magpies fan last night," avowed Remus, rubbing the back of his neck disconcerted.

"So _that_ was what you had been out doing 'til past three in the morning?"

"Were you ―?"

"I couldn't sleep! And don't run away from the point, you sorry arse!"

"Well, it's just that since I was there already, she thought I should stay and make her company," he lied. "She wasn't going to let me work whilst she was having fun and decided that as I didn't have a team, I should be initialised in the love for the best Quidditch team in the whole world," he explained as though he was just repeating Tonks's words.

Sirius raised both his eyebrows, clearly still finding it all rather odd, but he simply threw the badge at Remus.

"Good luck," he wished. "You're gonna need it," and he was out the door, shouting, "Kreacher's made scrambled eggs!"

For a moment, Remus did not know if he was joking on the luck bit, something about Quidditch that he did not understand or... if it was something else.

"Thanks," he muttered, unsure of himself as he slid his legs out of bed, the events of the previous night rushing to his mind.

Remus supported his head in his hands, letting his right one fall to his cheek. She did not mean it. It was nothing more than the by-product of her euphoria after the victory, absolutely nothing more; okay, perhaps some alcohol getting to her head as well. Although, a tiny bit of his brain insisted on reminding that the percentage of alcohol in a bottle of butterbeer was so low that even kids were allowed to drink it. At any rate, it was just a kiss on his cheek anyway, it did not mean anything. She had probably kissed Sirius's cheek several times! But Sirius is her cousin and he knew just how much they liked each other. _Oh, bloody hell!_ When was even the last time a woman kissed his cheek? He could not recall precisely and struggled, the grip of his fingers upon his hairs a hint stronger than they should be.

And he liked it. The worst of all was that he liked it. But did he really? He knew he had liked seeing her happy, that grin on her face, that laughter was simply marvellous, as though at that moment, she could not be disturbed by anything in the whole world, all she wanted was to be there, laughing whilst pure and blissful happiness took over her. That was exactly what had happened, seeing her so cheerful had made him think he had enjoyed, but it had been nothing more than happiness after seeing her happy, nothing more.

No doubt she was ashamed of it, at that precise instant, she had not thought things through. He would not confront her, simply act as though it had not happened, allow her privacy enough to deny it if it ever proves necessary. Had him been able to, he would simply walk away from her, avoid her for a month or two, allow her to get a glimpse of him only during the inescapable Order meetings, perhaps even move back to his house, come up with a lie for her and the others and continue with the little fiction for as long as it had been proved necessary. But of course he could not, they had the mission together; she was his _partner_ as Padfoot had just reminded him, he could not escape from her. Something started to build up inside him, something he could only define as anger; anger at himself, for allowing her to overcome him and let her in the insane idea of trying to find a werewolf pack. If only he was alone at it, he would have the perfect excuse to hide away from her.

What was he thinking when he decided to visit her? Make her company at a Quiddicth match! Quidditch! He was unable to recall as well the last Quiddtch game he actually wanted to watch. Oh, wait! Right... Gryffindor versus Slytherin, about a year and a half ago. Not even James, Sirius and Peter banging on about the league for countless hours were able to get him to cheer for a team, but now, all it took was a girl saying that she was going to listen to it at the radio for him to found himself keen to be beside her, he had just lied to the last one if his best friends for her. What was happening to him?

* * *

><p>Tonks entered the Auror Headquarters that morning with a silly grin upon her face, wishing a very good morning at all her colleagues. The extra enthusiasm making her trip on Williamson's chair, but not in the slightest enough to unsettle her mood, not even the teasing joke Dawlish shot at her clumsiness yet again; she just continued her joyful way to her cubicle, starting to sing her favourite song.<p>

"When all is dark and there's no light lost in the deepest star of night, I see you," she started with a lower voice, winking playfully at Savage when she passed by him before continuing with in a happier and faster tone, "Your hands are shaking, baby. You ain't been sleeping lately. There's something out there and it don't seem very friendly, does it?" She drummed with her quill for a moment before getting the dingy envelope with her paperwork. "If I could help you I would help you, but it's difficult with something much more powerful than both of us possessing me!"

Savage, seeing her indestructible good mood, pore himself over the division of their cubicles.

"Someone's cheerful this morning," he pointed out. "Lemme guess, a bloke keeping you up till late?" he grinned mischievously.

"I've got to get to grips, I don't wanna feel like this. Your voice keeps haunting me, I cannot eat or sleep. I'm going crazy in this hazy fantasy. You put a spell on me! Aw, but I ain't going down like this at all!" she continued, not wanting to ruin the best strophe of the song just to answer him. "So take your hands off me. Tonight I'm breaking free! This is the night!" she winked back at him. "This is the night!"

"Or perhaps will be keeping you up _tonight_," he added, curiously.

Tonks breathed deeply, letting it out in a sigh, the goofy grin returning to her lips.

"Yeah... a bloke..." she laid on her table, supporting her head with her right hand. "'Til three in the morning... Might be love..."

Savage raised his brows, his eyes widening in surprise and grinning back at her.

"You know what?" she propped herself back on her chair at once. "I think you know him!"

"Do I?" questioned Savage even more surprised.

"Definitely!" she nodded a few times. "Lennox Campbell! Three hundred and _twenty_ to three hundred and _ten_!"

Savage sighed annoyed, rolling his eyes as he sat back in his chair, muttering, "I should've known."

Tonks stared at the envelope, allowing happiness to fill her, her hair had been her favourite shade of pink since she woke up and she doubted it would have changed had she tried to. Just like the night before, such joy that she could... Wait, had she... She was so happy that she had...

She did.

She had kissed Remus Lupin. Oh, dear, what had she done?

Her heart seemed to have stopped; she continued to stare at the envelope, but now wide-eyed and shocked. What had she done? More importantly, what was he thinking of her? _What was he thinking of her?_ No wonder he was bewildered when he had left her flat, her excitement had driven her to think that he was just frightened by her happiness, but if he was going to be a Quidditch fan, he needed to get used to it. Why did she have to do it? Act purely by instinct, not thinking at all on the outcome of it. Certainly she was now for him the world's greatest cunt! Could not even restrain herself after a Quidditch match, kissing the first bloke she saw. She needed to apologise, let him know that it was not what he was thinking, that she had not meant, that she... that she liked him, but... How would she do that?

Such a wonderful timing, wasn't it? Now, that they were finally getting along well, she had done it! No avoiding her because she had found out he was a lycan, no nearly breaking his hand on the back of a chair, no disappearing away from her because ― Heck, she did not even know exactly why he had disapparated from her that morning in the forest, her mind was all focused on saving him, but certainly was not a happy reason.

Tonks shut her eyes close, rubbing her face a few times in order to force herself to focus on her job and sucking in a deep breath before finally opening them and ripping apart the envelope with her morning paperwork. What had she done?

* * *

><p>At long last, night fell and she was free to leave that poky and claustrophobic cubicle. Needless to say that her fruitless day was spent mostly by trying to come up with a decent excuse to tell Remus exactly why she done it, but none seemed enough and she doubted that if she said the truth he would understand wholly what was in her mind or rather that there was nothing exactly sane going in there when she grabbed him and kissed his cheek. Merlin's beard! She had not even given him the chance of denying it, all he could do was frown and be kissed, letting him nonplussed whilst watching her dancing thick as a brick around her living-room after a pathetic victory. Okay, no, not pathetic, it was a stonking great victory, but...<p>

Tonks let her head hit the door of the twelve, Grimmauld Place harder than she had thought it would be, the somewhat loud thud dissembling her moan, but she did not have the will to take it off the door and massage her forehead, nor to leave the rain that had started to fall, perhaps it could wash away her insecurities. Something one could not say she was used to, most of the time she knew what and how she wanted to do something, but she found herself now in the opposite situation. For how long she wished to stay in such uncomfortable position, she did not know, but it was cut short by the sound of the magical lockers being unlocked and her cousin opening the door.

"I can always count with you for dinner, can't I?" grinned Sirius.

"Guess so," murmured Tonks.

"You all right?" asked Sirius, furrowing his brows and stepping aside to let her in. "After last night, I'd expected you to be beaming for a week!"

"Ah, it's just ― just Dawlish giving me gyp at work," she said a not complete lie. "Nothing to worry about."

"You sure?" he questioned again, securing the lockers as she leant on the wall, unlacing her cloak and hanging it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him.

"Well, he can always be mysteriously attacked by a dog, you know," he winked at her and she smiled genuinely.

"I'll keep that in mind," Tonks told him, but not without wondering if she would ever put her cousin in danger of being caught just to see Dawlish being bit. "Is Remus around?"

"Library," Sirius answered with a nod. "Was just about to call him when I heard you knocking. There's some onion soup Kreacher's just finished if you want. By the smell, it's not at all bad."

Only now Tonks noticed the scent that was filling the hall way, and Sirius had described it pretty well. She was sure that her mother would have cooked a better one with a blindfold and without her wand, but it was definitely not bad. She recalled that the last thing she had eaten was her lunch over six hours before and she was starting to feel peckish.

"Sure," she agreed.

"Help yourself then, be right there," said Sirius, already moving towards the stairs.

Tonks made her way to the kitchen, somewhat distraught at the perspective of seeing Remus again. All she needed was a chance to explain herself, surely he would understand once she had done so. He had to. He would, once she had told him that she... What would she tell him?

However, her trace of thought was stopped by none other than the one item in that cursed house that seemed to exist with the mere purpose of taking off her balance: the umbrella stand. She let out a yelp as she hit the floor, her cheek meeting the wood uncomfortably even though she had used her hands to prevent any bigger damage.

"BLOOD TRAITORS DIRTYING EVERY CORNER OF MY NOBLE HOUSE!"

"Oh, belt up!" groaned Tonks, hurrying her way to the portrait.

* * *

><p>Remus sat on the floor of the library re-analysing the same map for what seemed to be the third time on that day. Notes and the other maps littered the area around him. He wanted to have every inch of it very well memorised for whenever he found himself alone with her, he was willing to do anything, anything that might help her ignore the definitely-unwanted-kiss from the previous night.<p>

"Your partner's here," he heard Sirius's voice, confused for a moment as to whom his friend was referring to and then as to why he had called her that, his heart jumping to an incredibly fast speed when a thought crossed his mind. Could it be that Tonks had told him? And teasingly calling her his spouse was his idea of a joke? Was she afraid of his reaction towards it? He could assure her that he would do anything to make her realise that he did not blame her for what had happened whatsoever. Having lived with Sirius for seven years, he understood perfectly well how someone, especially one with a Black temperament, could be driven by their emotions, even more when they were getting on their nerves, pretty much like after so many hours of a Quidditch match. Mrs. Black's painting, however, interrupted his muse.

"And announcing herself," Sirius chuckled, leaving the doorway to help his cousin.

Remus waved his wand to the parchments around him, they rolled up themselves and stood neatly on the coffee table. Unhurriedly, he walked over to where he could hear Sirius and his mother arguing one more time; postponing as much as he could to see that girl again.

"SHUT UP, you heap of shit!" roared Sirius after they managed to close the curtains over the painting.

"Tonks," said Remus, pocketing his hands.

All it took was a single look. For the first time, she saw in him a different Remus, one with an utterly indefinably remote expression; one that although he was standing right beside her, seemed to be miles away; one that she had just discovered she did not like.

"Hi..." she greeted, smiling bashfully at him and hoping to see him also smiling, but the corner of his lips moved upwards slightly as though telling her that yes, he had a friendly attitude towards her, but no, they were not friends.

"Old hag needs to learn to shut up!" Sirius exhaled walking to the kitchen.

Tonks followed him promptly, glad due the darkness that stopped Remus from seeing her flushed cheeks, which she took a moment to hide with her abilities. As they entered the kitchen, Sirius waved his wand to the dresser and three plates came flying to his hands. He served them all and a couple of minutes later, they were eating silently.

"Pass the bread," asked Tonks, aiming at any kind of interaction with him.

For the briefest of seconds their eyes met, but before Tonks could attempt to make any sort of communication, Remus had given her the bowl and looked away. His eyes holding a coldness that did not match in the slightest the amber shade she had come to long. So close yet so far. It was almost scary. He was so distant from her and she could only recall seeing him so cold in the morning following the first full moon after she had learnt he was a lycanthrope, but she had come to know that _that_ was not the real Remus. The real Remus was a very kind man, somewhat melancholic, but still incredibly supportive towards her.

Both of them pretending to be entertained by Sirius whilst he recalled his flight experiences with Buckbeak; laughing lightly and offering their friend small smiles. As much as she was eager to be alone with him and get it over with, she found herself also postponing it. Having this eye to eye conversation with Remus was uncomfortable enough, but having it with this other Remus was... well, it was even worse.

When Sirius finally went up to his room, excusing himself by saying he had barely slept the night before and needed to catch up with it, Tonks sucked in a breath to start talking, but Remus was faster.

"Are you ready, then?" he asked getting up and she knew he had meant for them to leave at once.

Tonks nodded, facing her hands before following him towards the door.

"We do not have to stay for long," he propounded. "Since neither I nor you had a decent night of sleep."

"...Yeah," she agreed whilst they put their cloaks on.

Gritting his teeth, Remus offered his hand for her to take, which she did if somewhat hesitantly even though she tried not to show. The next second they were at the precise spot they had left two nights ago and Tonks figured it was simply impossible for him to have let go sooner of her hand.

"I have, um, memorised this area earlier," he informed her. "Been trying to make a mental map of what may be near hear, based on all that we already know for this forest's pattern, you know..."

Remus continued to talk and Tonks here and there made some noises in agreement to his points, but after a good while of this same thing, she had got tired of it. The anxiety building inside of her was not at all helping and she could not take another word, she knew very well that he was avoiding it, but if this was what they were going to be after a mere kiss on his cheek, two colleagues that barely talked outside the mission, she would not take it; he was her friend and she would do anything so he continued to be. She knew it was troubling him as well, thanks to his iciness it was not crystal clear, but she could see it. She could see it in the way he did not look at her, in the way he walked so far from her, in the way he ― Remus, never the world's chattiest sod ― could not keep his mouth shut.

Tonks stopped; however, Remus being so caught up in pretending that they were perfectly fine did not notice.

"Remus," she called lowly.

"Don't you agree with me?" he ignored her. "I mean, I do really think we're approaching a cave, a grotto or som ―"

"**Remus, stop!**" she stormed. "Just... _stop_."

Slowly, he turned around, only now realising he was a few feet away from her.

"But I ―"

"_I can't take this anymore, Remus!_" Tonks breathed deeply. "Look, I'm sorry if I screwed _everything_ up last night, all right? I didn't mean to ― I mean, I did, I just ― I wasn't thinking, okay? It was just a kiss on your cheek and just sort of happened, I was excited and I don't wan ―" she stopped herself, biting her bottom lip fiercely and avoiding his gaze, without knowing that he could not quite face her as well. Why couldn't she just explain it as a decent human being for once?

Remus awaited her to finish, appearing extremely interested in his shoes. So much for avoiding the subject and pretending it had not happened, huh? He tried to no avail to figure out precisely how she was feeling towards it, but he could not. She was contradicting herself and anyone could see just how nervous the Auror was about the whole situation. Another failure. Could he still make her see that he did not blame her? Nor was he waiting for some sort of explanation from her?

"Tonks, I ―"

"Can we just go back?" she pleaded, eyes trying in vain to meet his gaze and take away that mask he had been wearing all night. "Just pretend it didn't happen or something. 'Cause I can't ― I just can't go on like this," breathlessly and nearly desperate, she waited for his answer.

Remus let his gaze wander through the woods. Spending the night internally locked away from her had been proved to be far from easy, but after so many years of practise of closing himself from every single deeper relationship, he did not surprise himself by being able to do so. He knew he could keep the mask on for as long as needed, allow her some distance from him and get her own friends back, friends that did not make her stay at home when she wanted to leave. However, in learning just how distraught she was by the present situation, he was taken by surprise. He was the one protecting her and in trying to achieve it, he had made her feel anguished and distressed, even though his intentions were the complete opposite.

"I mean, we _are_ friends, right? But if I can't kiss your cheek without we..." she trailed off, certain that she had failed on trying to somehow bring him out of the stupor he seemed to be in, mentally reviewing the twelve uses of dragons' blood or anything like it. Was he even listening to her?

Eventually, though, his eyes found hers and seeing just how troubled she seemed to be without his true self, he allowed himself to smile, a genuine one that gradually broke the mask that covered his face.

"Yes, Tonks, we are friends."

She allowed herself to breathe again, exhaling heavily in relief before mirroring his smile, glad that she had been able to torn his shell apart.

"So, were you saying?" she moved closer to him as they re-started to walk, but having learnt one thing out of this all, maybe she should leave the kisses out.

"Ahn... Oh yes, the vegetation," he pointed to some smaller scrubs. "Can you see how it's changed? Well, I don't know about you, but with these around supplying a nicer rest and the taller trees to provide protection against predators, I'd definitely rather make camp here."

"What would hunt a whole pack of grown lycans?" questioned Tonks intrigued.

"Well, you see, there all kinds of irrational creatures. I believe I've even heard of some that tried to be friends with them," divulged Remus, his voice holding a mocking serious tone, but he winked at Tonks when she chuckled, rolling her eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **-sigh- Everything snowballing because of feelings, ugh! Three chapters in eight days, that's got to be a record!**  
><strong>So, the song Tonks sings is called This Is The Night by The Weird Sisters and is one of few composed for the Globet of Fire film, can be found on YouTube if you guys want to hear, know the rhythm and stuff. :) It's so good to have a lot of free time! I even got finished the graphic I've been planning to make for this fic for _ages_!  
>Thanks one more time for all your awesome reviews, I really appreciate them all, always make my day to read them. And before you go, care to leave your thought in the box bellow? ;) Thanks!<p>

And Júlia, one more time, sim! Eu pretendo escrever tudinho, do final do CdF até o final de RdM. Talvez as atualizações fiquem lentas por causa de estudos e tal, uma época ou outra, mas eu quero escrever tudo mesmo. :) Brigada mais uma vez por tudo, eu tava tendo uma sexta-feira péssima até ler suas reviews, aí fiquei feliz de novo! XD


	20. 19 The Beta Pack

**A/N:** Hi, guys! So, this one has been planned in my head for ages, like almost two years, as well as the next one, and I was really excited about finally being able to write them, so I really hope you like them. Head canons involved, obviously and it's a quite long chapter, not the biggest, but the second so far. And my usual thank you for all your amazing reviews, you guys are really amazing, thank you! And if you could please leave down there what you thought of this, I'd love you forever. :D  
>And Júlia, não, o Husky Siberiano não é oficial, é só mais um dos meus head canons. De novo, eu passei <em>muitas<em> horas pesquisando quais animais encaixavam melhor na personalidade deles e escolhi esse pra ela. :) O patrono do Lupin vem no comecinho do próximo capítulo (20), também um head canon, nada oficial, só queria que a J.K. colocasse logo a biografia do Remo no Pottermore logo pra eu saber se eu fiz um bom trabalho com isso, mas enfim, temos que esperar. A brincadeira do capítulo 10, bom, eu acho que ela faria, só pra mexer com ele mesmo, sabe levar tudo numa boa e deixar tudo bem entre eles. E ele fica meio perdido porque ele sabe que se ele consertar é porque ele não quer ela na cama dele e mesmo que ele não admita, não é verdade. E por último, de que profecia dela você tá falando? Só lembro da profecia do Harry dos livros...

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 19: The Beta Pack<span>**

Sundays were great. No. Strike that. That was clearly an understatement. Sundays were marvellous. In fact, Remus Lupin had just elected them as his favourite day of the week, it seemed as though there was not enough Sundays in a week. The whole day had been delightful and he could find no better word to describe it. Tonks had arrived early at the Headquarters and worked with him all day long. Light-hearted conversation ― in fact, not much of a conversation when he mostly heard her talk, but still, ― and laughter, lots of laughter had marked that particular Sunday. Had he mentioned how much he liked that laughter of hers? For instance, it was one of the most pleasant sounds he had ever heard. Most of their time was spent walking inside the forest that he had started to mentally call it as 'their forest', and he knew that, had he been alone, he would have given up already, but there was this one Metamorphmagus that simply would not let him even go through that line of thought. She had a determination unlike any other he had ever seen.

"Get away!" exclaimed Tonks in sheer disbelief. "He _did_ that?"

"In his defence, we did try other things to get him to leave us in peace. Like James telling him that ― well, he sort of yelled to the whole Great Hall during breakfast, actually and it had the opposite effect, he got even more obsessed. Either way, James said to him that he was keen to hear someone howling," Remus raised his shoulders in his friend's defence. "Yeah, _that_ way. However, Severus wouldn't leave it be, so Sirius decided to... end it; one way or another. He didn't tell any of us, he just... did."

She took the minute he stopped to recall the day in his mind to comment, "That's probably the only time I know that I'm kind of glad it was an impulse. Imagine if he had planned it all cold-blooded!" she shivered mockingly.

"To be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure if he planned it beforehand or not," Remus told her. "Haven't eliminated that possibility, not that I gave it too much thought, but in any case, I just ―" he sighed before shaking his head to bring himself to the present. "Anyway, it was a full moon night and we were all preparing to go the Shack when Sirius told us to go ahead that he'd meet us there. Of course we thought it was a bit odd, but we also thought that he was going after Mary MacDonald one more time so, we went without him. Though, when he came in, my transformation had already begun and he entered bragging that Snivellus would have what he was looking for, that he was coming and would see me and end it once and for all. I could feel my consciousness slipping away, but I panicked nevertheless."

Tonks held her breath. Looking at him, she could see that the memory still troubled him to no end, she could only imagine how awful it must be to know that you are about to lose your mind with absolutely nothing you can do about it and still risking to hurt someone, even if it was someone you were not fond of. She did not wish to put him through more than he was willing to go, but he continued before she could decide on how to stop him.

"I looked at all of them and James had transformed back the next second, I don't even know if he saw me asking for help, but he was asking Sirius if Severus was really coming," Remus's voice was not much louder than a whisper and he was completely focused on the path they were going. "The last thing I remember is Sirius smirking at him."

"The next morning, they told me that James had risked his life, gone after Severus and saved him," Remus sighed. "Sirius and I argued ― big fight. Because I could have easily killed Severus, James or even worse, I could have bitten one of them and ―" he paused for a moment; a muscle in his jaw tightening. "We didn't talk for a while, but he had done so much for me already that I couldn't ― He promised to never do it again and a week later it was all water under the bridge," he chuckled. "Of course Severus hated James even more for saving his life and I don't know, preventing him to die as a hero or something like it."

Tonks could not help the smile. The relief she felt seeing him not as upset was wonderful. She could only imagine how he had felt, but she was glad they had been able to past by that hurdle.

"But _you_ also could've died," she reminded him. "I mean, Snape could've easily killed you in self defence."

Remus shook his head with a small smile, as if it was not the worst thing that could have happened.

"I still can't believe he did this to you. He had no right to."

"It's in the past now," he shrugged. "No greater harm was done."

She moved to walk closer to him, but as a fortnight had passed since the last full moon, it was an especially dark night for there was no moon in the sky, causing her foot to mysteriously get caught on some rock that she did not see and she tripped. Thankfully, not enough to make her fall, but, by the pain, it had certainly been enough to graze her shin on it. She moaned standing up and massaging the tender spot.

"Drat it! Stupid rock," she kicked it, despite the pain.

"Shh!" Remus sounded angry as he stepped away from her.

Tonks frowned. Since when did Remus not even asked if she was fine, not helped her regain her balance and was telling her to shut up on top of everything?

"Don't shush me!" she retorted indignantly and raising her voice. "It ―"

However, she never got a chance to finish the sentence. The next instant Remus had her pinned against a tree, his right hand covering her mouth forcefully whilst his left went for his wand, but Tonks was faster. Remus realised she must have moved more rapid than the speed of light because somehow her wand had left its holster and was less than half an inch from his neck; her eyes glaring deeply into his, advising him that if he dared to reach for his weapon or even to make one more move and she would not hesitate on hexing him in the slightest. He raised his free hand to show her that he would not attempt to do anything and slowly he indicated with his index finger, his ear, asking for her to listen.

Feeling her blood nearly boiling in her veins, she moved part of her attention to any different sound that might be coming from the forest, not wanting to let her guard down in front of... this man before her, one that right now, she could not say one hundred percent for sure that was Remus for what he had just done was most definitely unlikely of him. However, she did not listen anything different from the usual sound of the wind and frowned at him, pressing her wand against his neck.

Slowly, he took his hand from her mouth, raising both of them in a sign of redemption, and even slower, he pointed to the tip of his wand, getting out of his pocket, indicating for her to take it if she so wished to, which she did without taking her eyes from his. Tonks could see then the words 'I'm sorry,' forming in his lips and later 'Close your eyes. Listen.'

In spite of the situation, Remus had to stop himself from smiling. It was the first time he had seen her Auror instincts and he had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised. He had always known that Aurors were exceedingly trained, to a nearly unhealthy point, but seeing her threatening him just because he had done something that made her doubt for one second that he was really him and not some Death Eater disguised made him feel... proud of her. He had to congratulate her for the glare he had just received, a mute menace that he had no other choice than to let her have his only weapon. He wished he could have done it differently, but his slightly increased hearing had caught something that he thought he was imagining, but after listening to it again, he could not ignore anymore. Though, he wanted to believe that she would have hexed him, he was not entirely sure if she would have really done it if it was ever proved to be necessary.

Slightly ashamed for distrusting Remus for a moment, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. At first, she could only listen to the wind and the leaves being swung by it, but after a rather long moment, she could notice something else. ...Could it be?

"Voices?" she questioned as low as she could muster.

Remus nodded.

Whether they were werewolves or not, Tonks knew that there was but one thing to do. Follow them.

With a smile, she offered Remus's wand back to him and hit the top of her own head, Disillusioning herself, but keeping her wand at hand. He copied her and they started to follow the voices; fast at first, but they slowed down once they managed to descry two male figures.

"Ah! Let's just go back," said the taller one.

"Yeah, nothing here," agreed the other one, with a deep voice.

Remus smiled to himself, 'going back' could only mean leading them straight to where they wanted to be. The men changed their path and started to head to the right; when Remus and Tonks took the right turn, not really seeing his body made her bump onto him, letting out a somewhat loud noise by the leaves under their feet.

Daring neither to move nor to breathe, they stood still, holding each other's arms for support and watching both men turn around, frowning as they stared at the exact spot they were.

"Did ya hear that?" asked the shorter one, taking a couple of steps towards them.

"Did," nodded the other one in response and following his partner.

Tonks then moved very slowly, waving her wand to a spot somewhat far from them, causing a noise by the movement of more leaves and hoping it would be enough to make them follow it instead.

"Probably just one of those threstrals, Jack," concluded the taller one.

"...Probably," repeated Jack without moving.

"Come on, 'm starving!" he begged. "Let's go grab a bite."

Glancing one more time to the spot where Remus and Tonks were, Jack followed his partner, allowing the Order members to breathe once again. Remus took her hand firmly in his and they re-started walking after giving the men a heads up; he would have smiled at her if she was able to see him, to indicate that he was only doing it so they could know precisely where the other one was.

Here and there, Jack would shot a glance backwards and they were forced to stop, but after a few more minutes of walk, they reached the place Remus had been searching for nearly the past three months.

Both of them were simply gobsmacked when they saw just how big it was their... nest, if it could be called that way. It seemed more like one of London's luxury condominiums, only it wasn't exactly flats and definitely smaller. They stopped at a safe distance as they heard chatting and saw several caves together, side-by-side, organised really similar to a small village. Remus could not help to find it rather odd to say the least. Nowhere in the whole forest they had seen such pattern and now there were dozens of caves and grottos alike really close one from the other? Unlikely. Unless magic was involved, but then that would mean... He tightened his grip in her hand and she looked at him, sensing her movement, he whispered, "Nothing."

Surprise hit them even harder when they saw them all gathered around a deer's carcass, eating its raw meat like animals, the iron smell of blood coming to them as they ripped it apart. It was Tonks's turn to grasp his hand tightly. Remus closed his eyes, sorrow taking over him for just making her see it all, his brain working a thousand miles per second. He pulled her away, walking back quite a while, until they could only hear the indistinct talk, but far enough so any sound they eventually made could not be properly heard by them. He took off the Disillusionment Charm and awaited her to do the same.

"Tonks," he called after a moment of uncertainty. "So, I'm going, and you can stay up there," he indicated the beech tree they were near. "I'll be back for you in the morning when they're asleep."

She shook her head fiercely.

"You mad?! I'm going with you!" Tonks smiled, still not believing that he was really thinking on leaving her there.

"No!" he murmured. "You were supposed to help me found them and unless humans now live in forests eating raw animals, I do think those two belong to the pack. Your part is done, I'll infiltrate now."

"So you get all the fun, huh?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You got all the fun the last time," he reminded her.

"But that was because you were... busy. You know that if you could, you would have been with me. I'll help you convince them to join us. Bet I can draw their attention in a way you can't," she winked, smiling mischievously at him.

"Tonks ―"

"No! Seriously, I'm going," she stated. "You can't keep me here."

"I ―" Remus stopped himself. For a moment he thought that he actually _could_ tie her up to a tree and leave her there, but he knew she would hate him for the rest of eternity. Moreover, if Greyback, by any chance, was there and recognised him from the last time, he would not stand a chance on facing him alone. "Fine."

He sucked in a deep breath, thinking of the best way to approach the pack now that she was going with him. First of all, she needed to look like a werewolf.

"Do you remember my scars... from the other day?"

She nodded, frowning for a short instant.

"Why?"

"Do you think you can... copy them?" asked Remus, looking anguished. "Just a few, not many," he added quickly.

Slowly, her brain started to connect what he had in mind.

"Sure," she answered confidently.

Tonks closed her eyes, concentrating on the memory of said day and not only a scar started to appear in her left hand, but her face started to morph, disguising her true self.

"And, um... make a few well visible," he advised.

Remus watched her attentively, that same strained expression covering her features and a scar began to arise from the centre of her neck, up to her chin and ended in the corner of her lower lip. It was frightening to see her like that, as if he could see the harm he could do to her. And at that moment, he promised to himself that he would do whatever was within his power to never let that sight before him become true. Another one began to emerge beside her right ear, ending by the corner of her forehead and her hair became light brown, pretty much like his.

He found himself reaching for the left corner of her bottom lip, stroking it lightly as if to feel the texture. She did not stir when he touched her; instead she continued morphing her features, nose, jaw, eyebrows. Remus could not deny that those scars had not diminished in the slightest her beauty. When she opened her eyelids, a pair of royal blue orbs was gazing deeply and directly into his.

"Good enough?" she asked lowly and breathlessly.

"...Perfect," he murmured, his mouth suddenly dry and his voice even more hoarse than usual.

As strange as it felt, he had always hated his own scars; they were his permanent reminder of his condition. They were the reason he could not wake up one day and pretend he was a normal human being, the reason that no matter how hot it was, he always had a shirt on; they never failed to make him recall what he truly was. However, when he saw them in her face... That perfect skin being cut by it... All he knew was that he most definitely could not call them grisly as he used to call his own. Remus pulled his hand from her at once. What made him think that he was allowed to... touch her?

"See? They're not bad," Tonks smiled.

Remus shook his head, to leave his daydreams and return to reality.

"Sorry, what?"

"Your scars," she explained. "I mean, I noticed that day you don't like them, you were all fidgety about your ripped robe... But I think they ― I don't think they're bad..." she looked deeply into his eyes. When she knew he despised them, surely saying she thought they were beautiful would be taken as a bad joke ― an insult even ― by him.

They may be perfect in a pretty witch such as her, in an old man like him... He smiled, as if to hide what he was really thinking, and began changing a bit of his appearance with his wand, letting his hair elongate until his shoulders, taking away the most grey hairs he could, as well as making them look dishevelled before drawing a thin cut on his arm, letting a bit of blood flow.

"_What you doing?_" hissed Tonks, pressing the cut with both her hands, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Disguise," he put his free hand above hers.

"Good Merlin!" she exclaimed, not moving her hands. "We don't need your blood!"

"Not unless you rather eat that deer."

"Hell, no!" she refused. "They didn't even cook that poor thing!"

Remus sighed looking away. He had no choice, she had seen it already and it was a matter of time before she did the math.

"Werewolves do tend to prefer raw meat," he told her.

For a moment she seemed to have forgotten he was a lycanthrope like them and she searched for his eyes, but he seemed to be refusing her gaze.

"...Oh," she let out after a moment. They really seemed to be two Order colleagues searching for a werewolf pack, not a werewolf being aided by a human.

"Used to be nearer the full moon, though," he added. "But I guess in this case..."

"We tell them we've had something else."

"So we hunted and ate something in a forest without any sort of cutlery, without cooking it and without even staining our faces or our robes with blood?"

"We tell them we're not hungry!" she pleaded.

Remus caressed one of her hands with his thumb, smiling fondly at her.

"Trust me," he asked. "It really is the best way."

Tonks gritted her teeth. What he was asking was simply terrible, to spread his blood over her robe and face... She could not accept, but she had run out of other possibilities. He was the more experienced one, he knew the fight, he knew the war, and was asking for her to trust him... Well, she trusted him.

Tonks nodded, taking her hands away.

"But I'm going to use my own," she stated, pulling up her sleeve.

In a few minutes, they had closed their cuts and were covered in blood, but something still seemed to be missing. That was when Remus noticed their ― or at least _her_ perfect robe... too perfect.

"I hope you don't like that one too much," he commented before he ripped a bit of his sleeve.

Tonks moaned sadly gazing at her turquoise robe and black cloak, but obliged. Remus sucked in a deep breath, began spreading some dirt above his already brown robes before beginning to explain.

"So this is what we're going to do."

* * *

><p>The pack was guffawing whilst telling each other stories when they approached. Men and women, some even younger than her, adolescents that should be at Hogwarts and not in a pack of werewolves; much to Tonks's surprise they were all gathered around what seemed to be a second deer, she supposed a single one would not be enough to feed dozens of lycans. She noticed that they all had very few or even no scars at all; certainly they did not have to restrain their inner monster, cut themselves out of sheer frustration of not having another being to bite. Soon, all the heads were on them and the happy sound had died, but they did not slow down their pace.<p>

"Hey, lads," greeted Remus with a grin upon his face.

They all stared at them with frowns across their features, without a clue at who they were.

"Man, you sure know how to hide!" commented Tonks, getting closer to them and being closely followed by Remus. "Been looking for you for ages!"

"And who might you two be, huh?" questioned one of them, he certainly was the strongest there, undoubtedly over six feet tall.

_The size of a wardrobe_, Tonks thought. At least they had their wands if something bad happened, none of them would be able to physically take them all down. _Better make them like us._

"Oh, sorry, my mistake," said Remus. "I'm Liam and that's Amber," he indicated, with a tilt of his head, Tonks, who winked at him.

"Dunlop."

"Don't you lot got names?" asked Tonks curiously and one by one they introduced themselves. "Awesome," she added when the last one said 'Shannon'. "You were telling stories, right?" she inquired whilst sitting upon one of the logs and Remus rapidly took a seat beside her. "I'd love to hear some."

"Yeah," answered Jack. "I'm interested in one story, though."

"Yeah? Which one?" she questioned smiling at him.

"How you two found us."

"Aw, that's obvious, innit?" Tonks answered.

"Do tell," Jack leant on his knees, glaring at them.

"You know the school where they teach magic to those bantlings?" asked Remus.

Jack nodded.

"Always heard there were werewolves in that forest of them, so we began looking for you there," he explained. "Almost two months ago. We're looking for _the_ wolf, you know, Greyback. Ever stops by?" he questioned casually.

Jack nodded one more time.

"Said he would come one of these days," Dunlop spoke, "but it's been almost a week, not sure when he'll come. We're just the Beta Pack and he's got to look after the little ones, if you know what I mean," he smirked in a way that made both of them disgusted, but the mission was more important and they could not afford to be sickened by it.

"Sure do," Remus smirked, hoping it to be convincing enough.

"Oh, we're lucky then!" commented Tonks. "Guess we won't have to wait long to finally meet him, huh!" she elbowed Remus grinning.

"Lucky!" he grinned back.

"And how d'you know him?" asked the one they had learnt to be Tanner.

"I would really like to know that," added Dunlop.

"Oh, c'mon!" Tonks winked at him again. "He's like _the master_!"

Dunlop leant closer to her and muttered in her ear, "Is he?" She shivered in disgust, but apparently he interpreted it in a different way.

"He created us," said Remus in an attempt to stop him. "We're cousins, you see. Came to our home when she was just a toddler, transformed us, killed her parents. Was about to kill my father, but the old man managed to send him away. He tried to raise us, but I could see how disgusted he was... One day, I got sick of it, did us all a favour by disappearing and taking her with me. It's been just the two of us since," he smiled fondly at her.

"Two lone wolves," Tonks added, smiling back at Remus and internally wishing desperately that Dunlop would back off from her at that precise second; his dirt skin, his cracked nails, not to mention that the smell of him was about to make her sick. _The mission_, she reminded herself, finding Remus's thigh with her hand, _the mission_.

Lupin watched both of them carefully, not wanting to ruin anything unnecessarily. Her hand on his thigh seemed to warm up all his body and accelerate his breathing. His eyes followed her hand all the way up to her face and seeing the smile she offered him; she still seemed calm and collected, somewhat in control of the situation.

However, the wolf in him howled at how close Dunlop was from her; anger started to build up inside him. Part of it was for this... _beast_ that could never be called a man sitting beside her, but most of it was directly to a real man, who he had always admired, someone that until now he never thought he could feel about him the way he was feeling now. Dumbledore, how could he put her in this situation? Did he not think of her at all? Everyone knew she was precisely what most werewolves dreamt of putting their fangs upon: young, strong, fleshy, curvy, beautiful... _Stop!_ Remus clenched his teeth to bring himself back to the present. How could he? If Dumbledore had been unable to see it clearly, _he_ should have been the one to put an end to it, but thanks to her abilities, it made all much harder. Of what use would they be now? It would never change the fact that this monster was making a move on her. It was entirely his fault. How could he do this to her?

"Not alone anymore," said Dunlop, his lips pressing against her neck.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed and crossed her legs, grinning at him, but sliding away from him and closer to Remus beside her. "On a hurry, are you? Ever thought that I rather a lone wolf?"

"Never had an alpha in you, have you?"

And that was when Remus saw she could not pretend anymore. Her face started to contort in a disgusted grimace at the thought and her hand squeezed Remus's thigh, a mute request for help since she could not do much without jeopardising the mission. Dunlop's hand had moved to grip her chin, but before it could reach it, Remus stopped it with his own. He had come up with the kinship to avoid any kind of romance, but still keep the protection link between them; however, he did not seem to have a choice.

"Easy there, lad. Girl's got her man," he smirked.

Dunlop stopped in apparent surprise; he looked at Remus's fingers around his fist and shook it violently to set it free before getting up and walked to stand in front of him.

"Fucking the baby cousin, are we?"

Remus fought to keep his muscles straight, maintaining the eye contact.

"Got a problem?"

Dunlop snorted.

"Well, _lone wolf_," he began. "Lemme break it really clear for you 'ere. In the pack, the alpha male gets all the girls," he finished indicating all the females, even the really young ones, and then himself as if to not leave any doubt to whom that was.

"Not. Her," stated Remus through clenched teeth.

Dunlop raised a single eyebrow, not believing that he still dared to defy him.

"You don't get it, do ya?" He leant so close to Remus's face that he could see his yellow teeth as well as smell his putrid breath. "From now own your dick is gonna suck itself 'cause now Imma do to her **whatever the fuck I want!**"

Even though he did not show, Lupin panicked when Dunlop moved away from him and got closer to Tonks. Desperate to stop him, he stood up.

"She's out the pack then," he restated. "Send her away and it's just me."

Tonks opened her mouth to protest, but something inside Remus's eyes made her stop. He was still trying to save the mission, they knew if Dunlop was going to lead things this way, there was not a chance for them to go through with their assignment, but if it was just Remus, maybe, just maybe, they still stood a chance.

Dunlop straightened his eyes and turned back to Remus; a few of the other males from the pack had also stood to their feet to support Dunlop.

"Now, now, Liam," he taunted. "Why would you _suddenly_ want to leave the girl you've lived all your life with for a pack of wolves you've just met, huh?"

"What can I say?" Remus shrugged. "Gotta thank the guy."

"Or unless you're 'ere looking for trouble, eh?" he crossed his arms over his chest. "Some revenge? Perhaps?"

Tonks very slowly moved her hand to her pocket, not wanting to call any sort of attention to herself and sliding her wand out of its holster, keeping a firm hold upon it. Her Auror instincts were telling her that Dunlop was looking for a fight and she wanted to be prepared in case Remus was proved to be his target.

Remus shook his head, his lips curling in a way that clearly jeered Dunlop's trace of thought.

"Look, I'm a peaceful guy," he told him. "Just leave the girl alone."

"Well, _peaceful guy_," addressed Dunlop. "Let's just say now you've left me curious. The answer's no." And he hit his forehead directly on Remus's nose breaking it instantly and blood started to come down his chin. "Now let's see what you're capable of," he smirked, reaching for Tonks's hand.

The Auror stood up, knowing that the moment Dunlop attacked her partner, the mission was over. Faster than he could get a grip on her fist, she flicked her wand.

"_Protego!_"

Though, the spell did not work as she had expected to, or rather, it had not worked at all.

"Uh-oh, a witch we have here, huh?" Dunlop approached her, seeing the fear starting to show in her eyes.

"_Protego!_" she shouted again.

Nothing.

_They knew_, Remus realised. As the Order had fruitlessly tried to recruit all kinds of creatures during the first war, the Death Eaters knew it was only a matter of time before they tried to contact them. The whole area around their nest must be under all kinds of security against protection charms, disapparition, jinxes, hexes and curses alike. Probably simpler spells worked, it was impossible to restrain all forms of magic from a place, but simpler ones were useless in a duel. It was a trap. It was a trap and they had walked right into it. He let his gaze travel around; it was an incredibly big area and undoubtedly the Death Eaters had covered it all, but until when? There was no visible barrier and if they wanted to use magic again, they would need to walk their way out of there.

"_Relashio!_" she screamed, pointing to the grip he had around her cuff. "_Diffindo! Reducto!_"

"Keep trying, _you lil' filthy witch_!" Dunlop started to pull her out of the crowd. "Don't matter! You're about to receive proper punishment."

Panic had built inside her. Sure she had some training in fighting, thanks to Auror training; one could never rely upon their wand one hundred percent of the time, what if your opponent succeeded on disarming you? What if it slipped? But it was always kept to the crucial small bits; they were wizards, they duelled, they did not fight. Whilst swirling her fist in a futile attempt of getting it rid of Dunlop's grasp, she struggled to remember a few escaping techniques and martial arts. Would it be enough for her now? Against one of the biggest guys she had ever seen?

Remus stood up from the ground where he had been kneeled, vainly trying to put his nose back in place, ready to go after them, but the next instant Dunlop's men were blocking his way.

"Going somewhere?"

"Definitely," he answered, stepping closer to him, "but you're not coming with me."

Remus punched him right on the stomach, letting him trying to catch up with his breath. Instantly, another one tried to hit him on the face, but he dodged and retaliated breaking his nose, his hand hurting with the contact, but he could not afford to think of himself. However, Remus was not able to escape an attack from behind and he fell on his knee, trying to breathe after a rock had hit him hardly on his lower back, right where his kidneys were.

Tonks tossed that useless piece of wood back in the wand-holster before kicking one of Dunlop's feet, hoping that he tripped and loosened the grip on her, but it did not work as expected. The werewolf did trip and fell to the ground even, but she was taken with him. However, she doubted she had spent a whole second with her face on the dirt; soon she was pulled to her feet by the front of her ripped robes.

"You think this is funny, do ya?" Dunlop shook her, not a care to her fingernails entering his skin. "You know what? Think I'll let Greyback have you after I've bonked you senseless. You wanted to thank him, didn't ya?" he smirked at the hate in her eyes. "You're not his favourite, but I'm sure he'll appreciate anyway."

Tonks could barely touch her feet on the ground when he re-started dragging her; suffocating, she looked back and saw Remus on the ground. Was that how things were going to end? _No_, she thought. They would find a way to get out of there, even if it was the last thing she would do.

"**Let me go!**" she demanded, punching his arm.

"You know, I don't get it why I keep hearing that," he said mockingly and grabbing both of her wrists.

"Maybe 'cause you're a monster," she offered.

"As if I would let you go because you asked me to," he continued as if he had not heard her.

Remus heard her shouting and he forced himself to focus; he could not let her down now. Feeling the wolf howl yet again, he allowed the creature to take control, losing himself to his instincts, his job was to protect her. A foot was about to hit his stomach when he rolled to his side and kicked his attacker's other leg, knocking him to the ground. He grabbed the rock that had been thrown on his back and smashed the foot of another werewolf beside him, allowing Remus the chance to stand up. With the rock in his hand for a heavier impact, he chinned the third one, breaking a jaw and continued to batter him, crushing his cheek bone and most likely fracturing a finger or two. Before he could use the moment to go after Tonks, he was thrown back on the ground by a werewolf holding his waist. Though, he was more than glad to see that the werewolf, who now he realised to be Tanner, was not very bright. In catching Remus's waistline and throwing him down backwards, he had also thrown himself down, absorbing practically the whole impact and earning himself some dizziness. Lupin then could finally go after her, praying that she would still be all right.

"And maybe I don't feel like doing this in private anymore," Dunlop announced. "Maybe I want them all to see. Good thing to remind who the alpha is, don't you think, beautiful? _Maybe I want your boyfriend to hear you scream_."

They were now by the beginning of the well organised caves and Tonks could not see the end of it, for all she knew, it could go for a whole mile; but she could still see the spot where they had been chatting not many minutes ago on her other side. Dunlop's hands were squeezing her wrists, the delicate bones pressed together sending sharp needles of pain that seemed to travel all the way down to her elbow, but she hid it from her features. She was fine. He leant closer to her, a drop of saliva dripped from his rotting gums and onto her robe. Panting, she waited until he was close enough and she hit her forehead as hard as she could muster on his nose, avenging Remus. He grunted with blood coming down his face and let her go instinctively, giving a couple of steps back.

"That's for him," she sputtered.

However, before she could run away he had his hands on her once again. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down, her back hitting a log over and over with each push, sending a stinging pain every time her skin was cut by the wood. Tonks grasped his forearm, her nails deepening in his flesh whilst she morphed them longer and longer.

"Not so protective now, is he?" taunted Dunlop. "Bet he doesn't even like you. Never shagged you because he couldn't stand a cunt like you!"

"**Shut. The fuck. Up!**" She had broken through his skin and blood was beginning to fall.

"I could see he was lying back then. Oh, but I'm not picky," he told her. "Lucky for you, you're not gonna be a virgin for much longer."

Dunlop let go of her right shoulder, shaking her hand off of his and pressed her breasts down with the length of his left forearm and most of his weight, getting a fistful of her robe. Merlin, it hurt, so much she wondered if she would be able to breathe after a while, but she gritted her teeth and kept the hatred as her only expression. True, it was already and old habit of hers, but she could not remember ever being more determined to not show a single bit of pain.

"You ought to be punished, don't you think?" Dunlop jabbed the side of her thigh.

Tonks deepened her fingernails in his skin again, which she found out incredibly helpful to keep the pain inside and let only the hatred out.

"Aww, not gonna scream for me?" he provoked, punching the same spot a few more times. "Like it better when you _scream_."

"_Gerroff me!_" she said through clenched teeth.

Tonks kept her eyes locked with his. Deep down she could see how much he abominated her kind, witches and wizards that despised him and had made him who he was, but she could not feel sorry for him, all she could feel was the same abomination for him, for someone who dared to blame and charge an innocent for what had been done to him. She could see he wanted to harm her, as if by doing so, he could have his old life back, but she would not let him. She began kicking every inch of him she could reach, but he immobilised her legs by pinning both of them between his right calf and tight, taking some of the weight from her torso; he re-started to jab the same spot on her thigh again, only changing here and there to reach her knees or calves. She was not going to let him have the smallest satisfaction of seeing her let out so much of a moan of pain. She was fine. Though, one could not pretend when they had all air expelled from their lungs by a sock in their stomach.

"Now, we're talking!"

She gasped for air for what seemed like ten minutes, but had not truly been more than one. Her lungs appeared to have lost their ability to breathe, her hands finally leaving his bloody flesh and reaching for her belly, hopelessly attempting to help.

And that was the scene that Remus encountered. Without thinking he waved his wand to a rather large rock nearby, a smirk coming to his lips when the spell worked. Like he suspected, simpler ones did work, and they even could be useful, one just needed a bit of creativity. With an angry, but rapid flick of his wand, he threw it, aiming for Dunlop's head, but hitting his shoulder. The wounded werewolf fell with a groan and Tonks rolled to her side, out of the log and holding her stomach, letting her head down as very slowly she re-started to breathe.

Remus levitated the rock once again and this time he did not miss his target, it hit Dunlop right on the top of his head, leaving the werewolf extremely dizzy. Then, Remus ran to Tonks, helping her to her feet. He knew it would not be long until the other ones caught up with him and saw their alpha down.

"Can you run?" questioned Lupin once she had stood up.

Tonks nodded shortly. Without that monster on her, she was perfectly fine. Of course she was still really hurt, but making Remus carry her was far from being the best option, she just needed to cope with the pain for a while longer.

"Come on," called Remus, seeing the pack already was beginning to run towards them.

She walked over to Dunlop's side and realising he was still awake, she looked deeply into his eyes.

"And this one is for me," she informed him before lifting her good leg as up as she could and letting it fall with all the strength she still possessed, in between his legs, smashing his erection and hearing an incredibly satisfying grunt of pain before seeing him finally pass out. "Let's go," she called Remus and started to run in the opposite direction from where the pack was coming, down the line of caves.

Every single time her foot made contact with the ground, every single time the muscles of her thigh contracted, a raging pain would go down her leg. Merlin, what she would not give for a broom at that instant? Though, she knew that limping would make the pain fade somewhat, she could not for it would also incite the pack not far behind them so, she focused on a dark point she could not see ahead of them, ignoring the unpleasant feelings on her torso and her leg, allowing all her willpower to take over. She was fine.

He could tell she was hurt. Running side by side, he knew that that was not in her best shape, anyone who had spent two whole weeks with her would be able to see, let alone him, who had met her several times a week in the past three months. Her face was crossed with a strong resolution, something he did not recall seeing upon anyone's features.

"_Lumos!_" he lit his wand and she looked slightly surprised at him. "The simpler ones work," he explained and pointed the light to behind them; the pack was clearly catching up, if they did not reach the end soon, they would be surrounded. He was holding back to stick with her pace, but they were not going fast enough; though he knew that if he carried her, he would be going even slower and he was not sure for how long.

Tonks gritted her teeth and shook her head, her features crossed with disgust.

"**Drat it!** Com'ere," she pulled him to a thin space between two caves. She leant her hands down to her knees and her breathing coming in deep, painful gasps, trying to stop her face from contorting with each one of them. "Take off your clothes," she demanded pulling the laces of her boots.

Remus's eyes immediately widened in surprise.

"Wha ―?" he began, his face quizzical.

"We don't have time!" she stormed. By the distance the pack was, she calculated they would have a minute if that much, no time to explain _and_ execute at all. "Ugh! Do you trust me?"

Dumbfounded and panting, he watched her pleading face, supplicating for him to trust her on suddenly taking off his robes... whilst she started to take off her own? He had absolutely no idea what she had in mind, but how could it be good? Yet, he found himself answering desperately and promptly, "I trust you."

"Go on, then!" Tonks shoved him behind the nearby cave. "_Evanesco!_" she pointed her wand to those shity things Charlie had gifted her with far too many bootlaces on her feet and the next instant, her socks and boots had disappeared.

Remus unfastened his cloak, letting it fall before starting to take off his robes. He was about to throw them at her when he heard her voice coming from the side of the cave.

"Make them grey," she requested and then added with a demanding tone, "Don't look at me." The last thing she wanted was for him to see her like that.

_Grey? The robes, right._ Remus waved his wand, transfiguring the ones in his hand to grey when her cloak came to his feet and then her upper robe, the lower one, her bra, oh Merlin, her knickers! What on Earth was she doing? He forced himself to look away from them, keeping his eyes at a spot on the ground for those bright pink garments seemed to be calling for him. _It's just underwear, nothing wrong with it, everybody wears it. No, Remus! Don't look!_

"You done or what?" she questioned, concentrating on the figure she remembered seeing on the Prophet a few years ago, feeling her whole body tingling and every sore spot ache in protest whilst she morphed. Her mind could not picture it clearly, but she was relying on the dark night to be enough to trick the pack.

"I ― Umhm," and he threw his now grey robes at where he supposed she was without peeking, re-focusing on the same spot on the ground.

A moment later, she was donning his robes, they were tight for Remus was way thinner, but it was everything she got. With a bit of luck, the shock would frighten the pack enough to not allow them to analyse the whole situation. Tonks walked away from the alley just in time to see the pack arriving, taking a few steps towards the next alley, trying to lure them to a different one from the one she had come from.

"_Nox!_" Remus put out his wand to prevent any of the werewolves of finding him there.

"Who the fuck were those two that I just saw running there?" Remus heard her voice deep and with exigency. He was immediately taken by shock, he recognised it, he did not have caught a glimpse of her, but he did not need one to know exactly how she looked.

"Wizards, Fenrir."

And before he knew he was hearing that voice again, but this time he was the only one to listen to it.

"_You don't remember, do ya, Lupin?" Greyback leant over him, spit being thrown on his face whilst he tried to assume a sitting position after being beaten, blood staining his face and robes. "Let me refresh it for you. I TURNED YOU!"_

"_No..."_

Remus forced himself to go back to the present, he could not afford this memory took over his mind.

"**And you let them escape?!**"

"_Oh, I did! You are my creation!"_

_No, he was not, he had proven it, he was a Dumbledore's man._

"They can't be far."

"We did hurt them, Greyback."

"_So, stop fighting! STOP FIGHTING BECAUSE YOU BELONG TO ME!__**"**_

"_Never," his twenty-year-old self was punched on the stomach once again._

"_Embrace who you truly are!"_

"_That's not me," and the drubbing re-started._

"**Go! Go, go!** But if I see you back here without them ― _Where's Dunlop?_"

"He passed out back there..." Remus heard a voice respond before tons of heavy footsteps began to run.

"Remind me to give him a proper punishment for this," she told one of them.

Tonks ran with them for a while in order to keep the disguise, but wittingly letting herself stay behind and finally, when they were all gone, she entered a random alley, letting herself slid down a bit one of the caves' wall, but the instant her back made contact with it she regretted such stupid decision and crouched on the ground. She was fine. Her wounds hurting even more whilst she returned to Amber's form and tried not to feel disgusted by the fact that she had just become one of the most sickening creatures to walk this Earth. She jogged back to where she had left Remus and her robes. The minute she entered his field of vision, she saw the complete shock in his eyes.

She was not quite sure of what she expected from him, but she should have known this was coming. He had finally seen that being a Metamorphmagus was not all silly faces, cool animals or new looks every day; it actually could also be loathing and repugnant. She forced her eyes away from his and grabbed her clothes, putting them on before throwing his for him.

Remus was just finishing donning them after turning them back to their original colour when he heard a shout.

"THERE!" one of the werewolves was pointing at them and had begun running at their direction.

"Shit!"

Tonks ran towards him. She ducked, foretelling the extremely predictable onslaught on her and skid her leg, overthrowing him on the ground. She was about to knock him out when she saw part of the pack coming to them after being attracted by the scream.

"Tonks, come on!" called Remus behind her and she hustled running to him.

He saw her furrowing her brows with a tightened jaw as she ran barefoot to him. The pack was quite far, but he knew she was not running as fast as she could and they still had a rather long way to go. He figured the width should be shorter than the length of the Beta Pack's condo, so the instant he could reach her hand, he pulled her to continue down the alley they were, passing by numerous caves as they withdrew, wands at their hands, hoping for a miracle in case of an emergency.

As he suspected, about seven or eight lines of caves later, it ended and Tonks casted another unsuccessful shield. They would need to run farther.

"Bugger!"

Tonks shook her head to clear her mind and continue to run. Remus had truthfully never seen someone with such strength of mind, if it weren't by her decreased speed, he would not have seen another single confirmation of the pain he was sure she was on; although, had he been in a position in which he could watch her carefully, he would have seen an almost imperceptible limp on her left leg. Who knew what that monster had done with her for her to be like that? What if he had really...? What if...? Merlin, all he wanted was to take her away from there, keep her safe. He risked a glance back at the pack, they were getting closer; turning his head onwards once again, he began to search for any kind of barrier that might indicate for them that the protection spells were off, but he saw none.

"_Protego!_" Tonks tried again. "_Protego! Protego!_" she casted over and over in hope that, as soon as they were able to use magic properly again, they would knew, but to no avail.

A tree appearing right in the middle of their way, forced Remus to let her hand go and he shoved her away. The woods were so close one from another now that made impossible for them to continue holding each other's hands, but they still tried to stay as close from each other as they could. He was her protector, the one that she was counting on. And he had failed. Surely if he managed to get them out alive his failure could be assuaged somewhat, but when would they leave the protected area? He could not let the pack get to them yet again, he had to do something, but without magic, there was not much that ― there was _nothing_ that could be of some use for them. He felt... powerless.

Unthinkingly, he turned around and, in a fit of rage and channeling all his frustration in that wave of his wand, he found himself shouting, "**Bombarda Maxima!**"

A white light came from the tip of his wand, enlivening a thunderous fire explosion. _It worked_, was the first thing in his mind before Remus and Tonks were thrown up in the air alongside numerous branches, leaves, rocks, stems, tree trunks and Merlin knew what else. He reached for her and before long his fingers fastened around hers; soon they had entered the darkness of apparition. He just wanted to take her home, take her home with him and care for her like she had cared for him, protect her from any present and further harm, assure her that this nightmare was behind them, that at least _this_ nightmare was finally over.


	21. 20 Fine

**CHAPTER 20: Fine**

A painful, somewhat repressed grunt coming from Tonks was the first thing heard the minute they rudely hit the ground. She was still feeling the fire ball around them and stood up in fear, despite the excruciating pain in her leg and back and looking around frantically, trying to figure out where they were for the logical thing to do was go straight to the Headquarters, where no one who did not belong to the Order could track them, but that place was most definitely not Grimmauld Place.

"Hey! Hey! Tonks?" called Remus as he rolled to the side and got up, going after her.

"Where are we?" she asked, adrenaline still high in her system whilst she started to discern a construction next to them.

He stopped half-way towards her to look behind him and to the house, immediately cursing himself for bringing her here. What was he thinking? Of course, he wanted to care for her, make her feel better and the feeling of home instantly took over him whilst he disapparated before he could even form a conscious thought on where they should go.

"I'm so sorry," he apologised, walking over to her. "I should've taken us to the Headquarters, I know, I just ― This is my house. Tonks, are you hurt?"

"Oh, yeah..." She stepped aside to look at it and the corner of her lips started to rise in a smile as she struggled to see through the darkness, even though slowly her vision began to tarnish. "I... re ― remember."

"Tonks?" he called again. "Tonks, answer my question. Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, unsuccessfully trying to send the dizziness away.

"I'm fine, Remus." Of course she wasn't hurt. That was one crazy thought. Only... she was sure his house should not be moving and walking was far from being an easy thing to do, especially when one is trying so hard not to limp, but well, she was an Auror. She was fine.

"Tonks, what's wrong?" he asked, going after her.

"Nothing's wrong."

He stood right in front of her, forcing her to look at him.

"Are you strong enough to apparate again?" he questioned. "We can head to the Headquarters and ―"

"Remus, I'm fine. 'Course I ca ―"

"**No, you can't!**" he disagreed irritably. He did not mean to become angry, but if she did not say what was wrong he could do absolutely nothing for her. He had seen the way she was back at the forest, that was definitely not the girl he knew, there was something odd about all her denials at that moment.

"Merlin, you're worse than Mad-Eye," she told him. "Why do you even ask when you won't listen to my answer?"

"Because I ―" he stopped himself and breathed in deeply. He did hope that a threat to hurt her more would be enough to get her to assume she was hurt, but apparently he was wrong. "Look, just tell me what's wrong so I can help you."

"Remus, I'm f ―"

Tonks lost her balance, her head felt dizzy and her knees gave out, but before she could reach the ground, Remus caught her elbows.

"Tonks? Tonks! Tonks, look at me," he asked desperately, but her eyes did not open. "Tonks?" She had fainted. Bloody brilliant!

He leant her body against his, holding her there and drew out his wand, murmuring the incantations to deactivate all the protection spells he had put around the house, trying to stop his mind from cursing himself all the way for not taking her straight to Grimmauld Place. Not only he had put her under all of that and now he had... He would not be able to live with himself if something happened to her because he had been irresponsible enough to not take her to where they were supposed to go. Regardless of the entire situation, he could not deny how incredibly soothing it was to be the one to hold her, how wonderful her body felt pressed against his, how peaceful it was to see her head upon his shoulder, as if he knew she would be all right, just because he was with her.

A few minutes later he had finished and kneeled before her, supporting her body with his arms.

"Tonks? Tonks, please," he pleaded urgently, putting his hand on her forehead, feeling her temperature; despite it being a very cold night, she was sweating and did seem a bit warmer than she should be, but what did he expect? After that amount of running, he should have been surprised if she was cold. Then, as if his brain knew what to do, as if he was aware that she liked that nickname and definitely not quite thinking straight, even more desperately, he added, "Wake up, please. Dora, please."

An instant later, her eyelids opened somewhat and she looked at him, smiling slightly.

Remus mentally punched himself. Why did he have to call her that? With that look in her eyes, she probably thought he was her dad and she was finally somewhere safe with her family, definitely not in an unknown place with a bloke she knew for three mere months.

"It's okay," he told her regardless not believing it himself, supporting her and beginning to walk towards the house. "Come on."

However, her knee failed once again and Remus had to stop her from falling once more. He would need to carry her.

"It's all right," he assured her. "I've got you." He put his left arm on her lower back and moved the right one to below her knees.

"No, I ―" Tonks began to protest, but he lift her up before she could do anything else.

His hands were pressing right on the agonisingly sore spots of her back and leg, causing her to immediately clench her teeth and grab a fistful of his robes in an useless attempt to ease out the pain.

"_What?_" he questioned. "What is it? Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine," she answered, shutting her eyes close.

"The hell you are," he stated, walking them over to the house.

Struggling, Remus managed to open the door with a flick of his wand without needing to put Tonks down; he came in, climbed the stairs and entered the bedroom he used his entire life, placing her on the bed as careful as he could, but still making her bite her bottom lip when her back touched the mattress to stop herself from groaning in pain.

"Look, please," he asked one more time. "Talk to me, just tell me where it hurts."

"Remus, I'm fine."

Why couldn't she just stop lying to him and let him help her? It would all be over much sooner and he could even allow himself a bit of rest before dawn. He put his knee on the bed, leaning over her, his head a few inches from hers and he cupped her cheek, bringing her eyes to his.

"Tonks, listen to me, what did he do to you?" he questioned. "Did he ― Did he... bite you?"

That was when he finally got from her something different than what seemed to have become an automatic answer. She looked into his eyes for a short instant.

"No, Remus, he didn't _bite_ me," she answered somewhat bitterly. "And honestly, I've told you I'm fine, I just... need to lie here for a bit." Tonks pushed his shoulder away. "Go ― go take care of yourself."

And he realised. Not an hour ago she had a monster upon herself, determined to have his way with her without her consent and here he was, forcing his presence to her, throwing himself on her trying to help her with her physical wounds when she was trying to heal the mental ones. Not to mention that it was _his kind_. HIS KIND had done this to her. He was repulsive and loathing. Scared of himself, he took a couple of steps back and stared petrified at her. What made he think that he was any better than the beast that did this to her? He did not even think of what she wanted when he... Oh, Merlin, she had said it so many times, she was fine, she did not want him with her. But she would have time to heal her mind after her body was in a better shape and the opposite was not true. He had to do something, he needed to fix her before he could allow her some peace of mind.

He needed someone else, someone that knew enough about healing magic for taking her to St. Mungo's was out of question, someone that she could trust to do with her what she was too disgusted to let him do, someone that knew what they had been doing, someone from the Order. And there was only one human being he knew with all those attributes. Alastor Moody.

Remus knew that Moody had been tracking Death Eaters, but this was a health matter, he had to contact him otherwise something far worse could happen to her. He closed his eyes, trying to come up with a short message that would let Mad-Eye know how serious the situation was, but without explaining everything and therefore losing too much of their precious, short time. Half a minute later, all he had was 'Moody, I need you here now. It's Tonks, she's not well. We're in my house, still live at the same place.' He pictured Mad-Eye apparating the instant his message came to him, making Tonks feel better in no time. The image nearly made him smile.

"_Expecto Patronum!_" he pointed his wand to the window and watched the albatross flying away, illuminating the dark sky night, cutting it with its light and disappearing in a matter of seconds.

His gaze turned to Tonks lying on the bed; for all he knew, she could be sleeping, but something told him that someone that was under such pain as he was sure she was, could not really sleep, let alone this fast.

"I'll be ―" he stopped himself. When she could not stand his presence, of what use would be telling her that soon he would be back? Certainly would only make her feel worse. Neither could he tell her that Moody was coming because Merlin knew what he was doing, what if his patronus made the Death Eaters kidnap him or anything like it? Telling Tonks that her mentor was coming and then having to tell her that in fact he was not would only make her view him as a liar on top of everything. Therefore, under all that anxiety to make her feel somewhat better, he could only come up with a pathetic, "Hold on, okay?"

Remus ran downstairs, going to the porch to wait for Moody. He sat on the chair his mother used to stay whilst watching him play outside, but he doubted he stayed there for two whole seconds. He was far too much anguished to sit down and he started to pace just to do keep doing something. Mad-Eye should arrive any second. Why did he have to do this to her? No doubt he only made everything worse for her, made her feel as though he was also hitting on her, as though he also wanted to rape her. _Why hasn't Moody arrived yet?!_ He was sickening, he should never be allowed near someone as perfect as her, he had ruined everything. A sanguinary monster just like the ones back at the forest; that was what he was.

Realising that he still had Liam's altered appearance; he began to flick his wand over his face to return to his true form. He was finishing shortening his hair when a loud crack echoed and he distinguished a figure starting to limp towards him.

"Sorry took so long, had to go home and get the ―" Moody raised what seemed to be some sort of briefcase and was likely to contain healing material. "What happened to you?"

Remus looked down and realised that he was looking dreadful. His clothes were ripped and scorched everywhere; he had a broken nose and blood was staining his face and robes; leaves and wood slivers were all over him. However, he shook his head; all that did not matter.

"She's up at my room," he explained to him, barely acknowledging his excuse. "I didn't know what else to do; she keeps telling me she's fine."

Moody snorted, rolling his only good eye, the electric blue one looking left, right and centre.

"I trained that girl myself, Lupin," he reminded him. "She's gonna tell you she's fine to the moment she dies."

At that instant, shock took over Remus and he stopped, staring at the man's back whilst he began to climb the stairs. He had caught something in Mad-Eye's tone he thought that most definitely should not have been there. Was it...? Pride.

"Well?" questioned Moody when he finished climbing the stairs, bringing Remus from his reverie.

"First one on the right," he let him know, running up the stairs and behind him.

Mad-Eye entered the room limping; the view of his protégée as bad as Remus was, if not worse, made him stop for a brief second, scars crossing her face and also covered in blood, leaves and dirty, he watched as the once colourful and enthusiastic, young witch was reduced to a dreary and harmed girl who could barely walk. Even her hair had bleached, as though the strengh within her body was being drained. Soon, however, Moody made his way to the side of the bed and let the briefcase near her bare feet. Remus waved his wand, lightening a few candles and stood at the doorway, wondering if he would trouble her too much by coming in, but before he knew he was by the end of the bed, gazing at her anxiously.

"Mad-Eye?" Tonks finally opened her eyes.

"S'me, kiddo," he growled, unzipping the case.

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed annoyed. "Mad-Eye, I'm fine!"

"I know." He took off the stopper of a bottle containing a bright yellow potion and handed it to her. "There you go."

Tonks looked nervously at it for a moment before turning her gaze back to Mad-Eye, who nodded, assuring her. She brought it to her mouth without sitting and gulped, Moody quickly got it from her hand and the next instant her head had fall to the side on the pillow.

Stunned, Remus glared at Mad-Eye; had he just knocked her out? What on Earth there was in that bottle? The pride in his voice when he told him about her being fine until the moment she died, assuring her that he knew she was fine when it was so obvious she was not, none of those seemed right. Blimey! He had not even asked a security question when Moody apparated! What if Death Eaters had got the patronus' message and sent someone else instead?

The next instant, he started to raise his wand at him, but not a second later Mad-Eye had disarmed him with an angry flick of his wand and was handing the item back to him.

"Will need to be faster than that, son."

Remus looked from the wand and back to Mad-Eye before taking it back.

"You're jammy it's really me. It'd have been only too easy to get you two outta here," growled Moody and added, "Pain can be a real problem in a mission, Lupin. One of the most important things of Auror training's to learn how to ignore it. Teach your brain to make sure that even if you had your arm chopped off, you can still tell everybody that you're fine. There's a reason the Office spends five, sometimes ten years without taking anyone in and believe me! It's not because we don't want, 'cause we can surely make it with a few more people, but it's not everybody that's got the guts."

It seemed... brilliant! Remus could see one flaw in their plan, however.

"And how do you tell if they're really fine?"

"That's the rub, isn't it?" asked Mad-Eye, showing him the yellow potion before tossing the bottle back in the case. "Concentrated Sleeping Potion. You can't control your brain when it's asleep, still reacts to it."

Moddy then began hitting her lightly, starting from her feet and watching her face carefully. Tonks's features remained relaxed until he reached her knees, when she frowned slightly. Mad-Eye went back to her ankles and started to pull her robes upwards. The minute her knees were uncovered Remus saw the reason for her not being able to keep running at her fastest speed, or rather he thought he had seen until Moody uncovered her thighs.

His eyes widened and he gasped before looking at Mad-Eye. Her knee was swollen and red, enough to make anyone limp whilst walking, but on the outer side of her left thigh and coming to the front side, there was a vast purple bruise around eight or nine inches long, red marks on the borders and looking as painful as a closed wound could look. That was anything but superficial.

"Pulled muscle," Moody announced.

Remus began shaking his head, unable to take his eyes from her wound.

"Tha ― That's cursed," he concluded.

"S'not." Mad-Eye leant over it and pointed a few areas on the edge. "D'you see the red? Natural process, either beaten up or a terrible fall; wouldn't be surprised if that was the case with the klutz that she is. Going to be even worse in the morning."

"No, Moody, you don't understand," he argued. "She was running. _Running!_ And not even limping! A bit slower than usual, but that was it. Just running for our lives to get out of there not half an hour ago." With a wound like that, Remus wondered if he would be able to even walk properly. It was simply impossible.

"Well, ask yourself, Lupin." Moody glared at him. "You're pursuing something, yeah? But your prey is running the fastest it can. You get down after a while, right? Get tired of it. But if you're pursuing something that's limping, you are incited by it, aren't you? You know that it's not giving a hundred percent so if you keep your pace, you'll get to it soon. That's how a predator brain's works! Pain, limping, they're all weaknesses and _weaknesses are __**not**__ to be shown!_"

"But this," Remus pointed at it with an open palm. "This is just impossible."

"You'd be amazed with what you can teach your brain." Mad-Eye pulled a chair and leant over it, analysing it better.

"It's... brutal," Remus declared. "Auror training. It's brutal and... barbaric." Of course he knew that the Cruciatus Curse was a part of their training, that was common knowledge, and that was cruel enough. Compared to this, ten whole minutes under the effects of the unforgivable curse seemed like a walk in the park.

"Like I said," repeated Mad-Eye, "not everybody's got the guts."

"This method... should be changed," he enunciated. "Jus ― It just can't go on like that."

Moody snorted.

"Feel free to leave a complaint at the Ministry."

Remus raised both his eyebrows at the challenge.

"Maybe I will."

"And don't forget to add on your note what we should tell the mother of the little kid we could not save because we were too busy whinging over a sprained ankle."

Remus immediately opened his mouth to respond, but he could not. Suddenly, a faceless mother had occupied his entire mind, crying over a little girl's dead body whilst nearby, an also faceless Auror rubbed their ankle. He had to admit that he much rather the image in which the mother, crying happy tears, hugged the little girl with no more than a few scrapes and the Auror nearby clenched their teeth to keep the facade; the mother would thank them over and over, maybe offer them something, but all they would be able to answer is 'No, ma'am. I'm fine.'

"So, what happened?" growled Moody.

"I..."

Remus could not stop staring at it as her mentor began murmuring enchantments that started to slowly fade the purple away. She must have been in so much pain and all the way he had done nothing to help her, utterly oblivious to the fact that she should not even be walking being hurt like that. It was his fault, all his fault.

"We arrived, asked for Greyback," Lupin finally began to inform him, "they said he should've been there about a week ago, but nothing. Their alpha was making a move on her from the beginning, I stepped up, said to send her away that I'd stay on my own, but they didn't buy it. He hit me and she tried to cast a shield, but didn't work. It was a trap. Death Eaters. Knew we were coming, protected the whole place against spells, we were pretty much powerless against them."

Remus ran his hand over his hair, taking his eyes from her leg at last. It was starting to look better, bringing some relief to him whilst he counted to her old mentor what happened to them at 'their forest'.

"I brought us here, tried to help her, but she wouldn't tell me a thing until she passed out." Remus swallowed hard, finally coming to the end of his relation. It was all still far too vivid, but he had done it, had succeeded to bring them out of that hell alive. "I managed to wake her up right away, though; took off the protection charms and brought her here. She kept sending me away, said she only needed to lie down for a bit."

"She told you she needed to lie down?" asked Moody unbelieving.

"For a bit, yes," answered Remus. "Why?"

"That's a weakness!"

And weaknesses are not to be shown. Right.

"But it was over already," he pointed out. "An ― And it was me! Surely, she knew she could quit it."

Mad-Eye returned his gaze to her thigh; the pulled muscle half-healed by him.

"Strikes me as two possibilities," growled Moody, pressing the wound slightly and watching her frown and her features contort in pain. "She's either forgetting her training," he paused as if wishing that was the correct alternative.

"Unlikely," offered Remus, not entirely sure if such intense training could be forgotten, let alone so fast and especially when it was taught by Mad-Eye.

Moody nodded.

"Or she was under some agonising pain and really needed to lie down before she passed out again or worse." A muscle in his jaw seemed to tighten. "Point is this ― is not reason enough. I've seen her with a far worse wound ― _far worse_, Lupin, one that would have made even an Auror stop, but she just ripped a piece of her sleeve, told me to do whatever I needed to and put the cloth in her mouth. One thing I know, though. Nymphadora Tonks" he pointed at her, shaking his head, "doesn't cry. It just doesn't happen. Even in Psychological Torture, when we get all family information, every little weakness, every tiny little thing that can be used against you, she managed to block it all and everyone drops a tear or two because when it messes up with your head it's not easy, but she didn't. Determination, Lupin. I have yet to see someone so determined as she is; if she really wants something, she'll get it."

Remus walked over to where her head was, watching her sleep. It pained him to know that he had already seen her sleeping more peacefully than she was now, back at Grimmauld Place, when Sirius practically prohibited him from ceding his room for her. Was it only three weeks ago? It seemed like months away. Determination. He had seen it in her eyes back at the forest, she definitely had so much more than your average person. She did not even drop a tear during Psychological Torture... For some reason, he could not picture Mad-Eye crying as well, the man seemed to be made of stone and he wondered, was that the reason Tonks became his favourite? Was her the first one not to cry after him, leading him to think there was something special about her? Well, anyone could see that indeed there was something special about her. ...Or was it just him?

"You didn't see him giving her something? A potion or... _anything!_"

Disappointed with himself, Remus shook his head. He should have been there for her, he should never have left that monster carry her away. He should have ignored his broken nose and walked over to her instead of allowing himself to fall on the ground, trying to fix it.

"I was really nagging her, though," Remus remembered. "To get her to tell me what was wrong, I mean. You don't suppose she said it just to make me leave her alone, do you?"

Moody looked at him for a long moment, both eyes gazing deeply into his and Remus was beginning to feel uncomfortable under such analysing watch when he finally replied.

"She does like you, Lupin."

Remus awaited him to continue, but as Mad-Eye did not, he incited.

"Meaning...?"

"It's possible," he shrugged. "Maybe she doesn't want you to see her like this," he added and seemed to struggle with a trace of thought, apparently trying to put into words what he was thinking, but before he could do so he stormed, "_Don't ask me what goes inside her mind!_"

Remus frowned. He had not really asked what was going on inside her mind; he was just trying to understand. For all he knew, they were nothing more than friends, partners in this unsuccessful mission, that was how he felt. Friends... maybe she had the habit of not letting her friends really in, protect them from seeing her in such state, but she could not go on like this. She needed to open up, she needed someone she could count on, she needed someone to call whenever she needed medical attention. Furthermore he had seen her like this, how much worse could it get? Of course he had not exactly helped her, but that was only because she did not want him to, he was quick to get her someone that could help her, however. If she needed someone, he would be there for her, no matter what. Well, if she could look him in the eye after him being a disgusting, insensitive guy who not even respected her boundaries when she needed a break after nearly being raped, that was.

Silence fell between them as Moody worked on her wound, looking as concentrated as one could get. Maybe he was not really made of stone after all, seemed as though Tonks had made her way in that rigid carapace. Mad-Eye had probably spent years trying to keep everyone away for a relationship is a weakness, but for some reason that Metamorphmagus had managed to get to him. As far as he knew, she was the only one Moody was really fond of, surely he had his Order colleagues, but it was crystal clear that she meant more to him than any of the others.

"If you end up having to take her to St. Mungo's, you tell them she's an Auror right away, all right?" Mad-Eye informed him and awaited his nod before returning to the injury. "They'll know what to do."

Soon, there was nothing but a large light red mark on her thigh and Mad-Eye got up, walking over to him. He lifted up Remus's chin and hit his nose with the tip of his wand.

"_Episkey!_"

Lupin frowned when he felt the pain of the broken bone re-attaching.

"Hand," Moody asked and Remus properly raised it, letting him fix the fractured fingers. "Get her to teach you how to punch before the next one. Don't wanna have them broken because you can punch."

Next one? There would not be a next one, would it?

"I ― I had a rock."

"Don't knock up her," Mad-Eye advised, ignoring his justification.

"Sure."

"And keep an eye on her," he asked. "I'll send word to her parents."

"Will do." Remus nodded. Mad-Eye must have been used to it by now, letting her parents know about her missions and when they ended up badly.

With another loud crack Moody had disappeared. Remus pushed the chair nearer to where her head was and sat down. He could only imagine the pain she must have been under and it was his fault. She had just entered his endless list of people he disappointed.

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

Remus stood up and walked to his parents' old room, getting in the wardrobe the best duvet and sheets he had in the house before going back to his room. He placed them upon her body, making sure she was comfortable and well warmed up, tucking her in just like his mother used to do before sitting on the chair to continue to watch her sleep for what he hoped to be the rest of the night, but he was mistaken. Not sixty seconds had passed when he saw her eyes struggling to open.

The instant her eyes met his, he questioned softly and leaning closer to her, "Are you all right?"

Tonks turned her head to the other side, facing the wall and occupying herself in touching a hole in the painting, trying to distract her brain from the fact that every spot in her back seemed to be shouting in pain.

"I'm fine, Remus."

"Moody was here," he informed her, as if to let her know that he was fully aware of their smokescreen. "I didn't ask you if you were fine, I asked you if you were all right."

Tonks stopped her fingers and stared at the hole without really seeing for a moment then suddenly turned her head back to him. Deeply inside his amber orbs she could tell that this was Remus's way of telling her to quit all that Auror rubbish and tell him how she was truly feeling.

Fine. Of course she was not fine. It hurt. _So much._ Her own weight seemed to be crushing her lower back. _So much._ At that moment, combined with the lack of adrenaline in her system, once she had allowed herself to actually feel the pain, she found it impossible to push it away. All of a sudden she was gasping for air and without a clue on how she was able to even stand to lie down for so long, Tonks propped herself to a sitting position as fast as she could, earning some dizziness for the rapid movement and oh, Merlin, she was going to be sick!

"What are yo ―?"

Tonks pushed him away by the chest just in time to vomit on the floor between them and not all over him. Gradually, she returned, crossing her legs on the bed and supporting her elbows on her knees, letting her head fall in her hands.

"_Evanesco!_" He made it all disappear before turning to her.

"I'm so sorry you had to see this," she said hoarsely, her body shivering in cold.

"It's all right," Remus pulled the chair, closer to the bed. "Why don't you lie back down? Do you want me to get you a toothbrush? Mouthwash, perhaps? I've got one ―" He did have a very powerful one he used after particularly harsh full moons or after taking Wolfsbane, but something in her made him stop.

She could not answer him, all she could do was shake her head furiously, staring at the duvet because Merlin, it felt as though there were millions of needles entering her skin and if she lie down, it would only dig the needles deeper.

"Tonks?"

She continued to shake her head.

"Tonks, Moody healed your leg. Did he hurt you anywhere else?"

She clenched her teeth, a bit of her brain repeating for her over and over that she was fine. But how could she be fine when she did not even know if she would be able to stand up? How hard is it to deny what your own brain is telling you? She did not wish to worry him, but neither did she want the pain to persist any longer. So, she kept staring at the duvet, fighting herself to find a decent answer for him, but he no longer needed one for the mere absence of her automatic answer, already responded him. He knew she must have been feeling awful to not follow every bit of her Auror training and on top of everything he was the one with her. Him! Remus Lupin, the werewolf. The one she surely wanted to be as far from her as possible.

"Sh ― Show me where?" he requested hesitantly, conjuring a bowl and moving to get a towel in Moody's case.

Tonks raised her face and her eyes met his yet again, so kind and reassuring that seemed to be all she needed to momentarily win over the rational bit of her mind. She knew Mad-Eye would most likely take her head off once he learnt what she had done, but at that moment she could not find it in herself to care, all she needed was for him to make her feel better, even if it was just a bit. She would deal with whatever came later. She waved her hand up and down her torso, hugging her stomach and feeling as though if she opened her mouth, she would be sick yet again.

"Can you... come here?" he patted the edge of the bed near him.

Tonks dragged herself to the spot with difficulty, letting her calves fall out the bed, as close to him as she could and gazed into his eyes, he could see she was asking for help in her own way, pleading for him to make it all go away. Remus positioned himself between her tense legs and swallowed hard. It should not be this way; he was what she despised the most at that instant, but at the same time, he was all she got. Slowly but surely, he moved his hands to grasp the bottom sides of her upper robe.

"I know this is hard for you..." he began, "and I feel sick to my own stomach that I even have to ask... but... trust me? May I...?"

Tonks bit her bottom lip fiercely. Rare were the times in which she allowed guys to see her without an upper robe, being a Metamorphmagus was always a hurdle, without a doubt people would expect her to have the perfect body since she could morph it to whatever she wished to, but for some odd reason, she did not feel that way now. True she felt weak and vulnerable, but it also felt incredibly easy to let Remus in and she moved her hands to his shoulders for support, nodding.

Gradually, he peeled what once was a turquoise robe over her head and let it fall on the bed beside her. The instant he caught a glimpse of her back, he stopped breathing. A massive, purple bruise, divided in several minor ones, stained the lower part of her back; deep cuts, dried blood and clear finger marks were everywhere.

"...Tonks, what did he do to you?"

A mix of sensations rushed through him at that moment, if it was possible he hated Dunlop even more for this, he pitied her for having to go through it, he wondered how she had been able to run alongside him for so long and he hated this crazy Auror training method more, even though he was unsure what would have happened to her if she had not been able to hide her pain from that monster or even if she was unable to run with him out of there. However, above all, the strongest hatred was directed at himself, he knew he was surrounded, he knew he had fought his way to her the fastest he could and he knew he had stopped that vicious creature from going any further, but he also knew he should have been able to find an even faster way to get to her, to prevent her from being harmed.

If only her cuts were clean like his was when he splinched two weeks ago, he would be able to heal her without any extra jolt of pain, but lama, wood slivers, bits of leaves, all dirtied her wounds and closing them like this would make it worse in the future. He had to cause her even more pain before he could finally make her feel any better.

Tonks continued to bite her lower lip, her chin trembling with the strength, every second that passed by she could feel the pain getting worse, despite that voice in the back of her head constantly telling her that she was fine. She took her hands from his shoulders and hugged her own stomach once again; shutting her eyes close, she let her forehead fall to his collarbone. The memory was coming too vivid to her mind. The hatred in Dunlop's eyes as he threw her again and again over that log, the feeling of her robe being ripped and the burning sensation of her skin being cut and harmed instead of it, how she fought to not give him the briefest satisfaction and simply mirror his feeling. She could only imagine how terrible it must look because it surely felt awful. However, there was an amazing comfort in having Remus with her, as if she knew he could be trusted for she was sure she was not the first one he helped after a mission that did not ended so well. Despite not being able to answer his question for it would mean letting the memory take over, she realised she never really answered his first one and with that voice in the back of her mind, it would have been simply effortless to tell him she was fine, so she struggled against it for a moment, unable to really win, but still capable of not letting it take complete control as she did in the battlefield.

"I will be... fine."

Remus could tell that she was combating her own instincts for this and he smiled, glad with this tiny break of her shell. He could work with that. Until he realised... it was all because of him, here he was, pushing her further and further when she did not want to go anymore. When would he stop being such a weight on her?

"_Aguamenti!_" He aimed the thin stream of hot water to the bowl before immersing the towel in it. "I'm going to clean it, mi ― might sting a bit."

Tonks seized the front of his robes.

"Go on," she stated through clenched teeth.

Gingerly, he placed it upon the deepest cut and felt her suck in a breath. It hurt, every time Remus put the towel upon a cut, it stung, but she had endured worse. Though, what did she expect? Remus was the kindest bloke she had ever met; if someone could clean wounds without making them hurt like hell, it was him. Merlin! She should make him her official wound-healer; she could think of no one better.

His fingers touching the exact some spots of the beast who called himself Dunlop had touched, such a terrible creature that Remus was sure he did not even deserve to know that a wonderful girl like Tonks existed. The white towel in his hands becoming red and brown by her blood and the dirt pained him greatly. He extended another clean towel over her back once he was done in order to let it protecting the wounds for a while whilst she recovered. He felt her body relax, so close to him, though she did not move as if all she needed was to stay with him for some minutes. He could tell she was vulnerable and exposed and he was anything but worthy of her, he was just like the ones who had left her this way, if not worse for imposing his presence to her at that moment.

However, he could also tell that she needed some comfort, she needed to realise that the worst part was over that she would not have to deal with that demented creature ever again. So, Remus leisurely moved his arms upwards, placing them carefully around the less hurt part of her upper back, just above the hook of her bright pink bra, hugging her.

Protected. That was exactly how she felt in his warm arms, like no one could reach them whilst they remained that way. And for a few wonderful minutes, as her pain started to subside that was what happened, until a loud crack echoed in the house.

"I swear that the next time I show up at her doorstep in the middle of the night without her daughter, that woman is gonna have a heart attack."

Tonks heard the metal sound of Mad-Eye's leg hitting the floor and moaned.

"Maybe you should stop showing up at her doorstep without her daughter then," she responded.

"You know we need to let the family know when ― What the ―?"

Moody stopped in shock the minute he saw them, but before the Auror could finish Remus pointed to the towel on her back and could almost see him connecting the dots. Mad-Eye walked over and pulled the towel off, analysing her bruises for a short instant.

"What did you use?" he growled, bringing the towel to his nose.

"Just hot water," Remus answered, shaking his head.

Or maybe that was why he had been so gentle. The worst was not behind her.

Moody then unfastened his belt and hand it to her.

"This ain't gonna be pretty."

Lupin turned to Mad-Eye.

"Do you want me to go or...?" He knew she was not too fond of him at that time, but he had been all she had before, now that Moody was here, he did not think she would want so much as to see his face.

Mad-Eye shrugged in response, but he heard another's voice answering his question.

"No." Tonks sounded resolute as she pushed away from him to look in his eyes. "Do you mind?" she asked nervously in a needy whisper.

"Sure." He smiled warmly after a moment of surprise and put his arms lightly around her once again.

"Do it," Tonks assented, taking the belt and vigorously biting it. She then placed her chin upon Remus's collarbone and her arms on his back, grasping fistfuls of his robes.

Mad-Eye opened a bottle containing now a cherry coloured pomade and let some fall on her cuts. Remus felt her entire body tense with the contact. It pained him to see her so injured, especially when he could have stopped, when he should have been the one to stop it. And he did the only thing he could think of to make her feel somewhat better, tightened his embrace on her, pulling her body even closer to his. Watching Moody continue to spread the pomade all over her back, he could feel her panting and hear her grunting here and there. He could not remember the last time he had hugged someone so fiercely, he could not recall ever being someone's rock like that and he felt the wolf howling in his chest, so protective of her, but fought to shut the creature up, feeling disgusted with himself. All she needed was someone to hold her, to make such painful procedure more bearable, absolutely nothing else and he would be there for her, for as long as she needed him.

Soon, the pomade had plunged all her angry cuts and Mad-Eye left it there so it could clean them better and started healing her bruises, one by one they faded and ached sharply before disappearing completely. When the purple spots were all gone, Moody finally took the pomade from the cuts and began closing them. A while later they were all healed and light pink marks were the only reminder of what she had gone through.

Remus heard the sound of metal hitting wood when Tonks let the belt fall. She released the grip on him and on his robes and deeply gasped for air a couple of times.

"Lay her on her stomach, Lupin," commanded Mad-Eye. "Let her rest for a while."

Remus loosened his arms around her to do so, suddenly all too aware of her breasts pressing against his chest, her hair on his neck, her palms on his back, but before he pushed her to the bed, she tensed up.

"Gimme a minute," she asked breathlessly, moving her forehead to his collarbone and bringing her arms to her own chest.

"Of course," he agreed promptly. "It's over now," he reminded her after a moment, his hand travelling to her head and the tip of his fingers massaging her scalp. "It's over."

Simply wonderful, that was exactly how he felt at that moment. Knowing that he had succeeded on making her better, that she was not under an agonising pain anymore, that she wanted to be there with him whilst he massaged her, that he had been her rock through it all felt... as though he was one of her closest friends, as if he was one she could always count on and he found himself longing for her to trust him, to see in him more than just an ally, to see in him a true friend. With a deep breath, she let go of him and he helped her lie prone on the bed.

"I'll stop at the Office now and get you a couple of days off," Moody informed her, organising the bottles within his case.

Tonks shook her head and propped herself up.

"No! The last thing I need is them thinking I needed another training section with you," she acknowledged. "Be stuck with paperwork forever. I'll go in the morning and come back for a kip in the afternoon, don't worry." She nuzzled against the pillow.

"**You listen to me, young lady,**" Mad-Eye stepped nearer her. "_You're not going to work until I bloody say you can and I am forbidding you from showing up at that Office for at least the next two days! Do you understand?_"

Tonks stared at him open-mouthed. Sure, she had seen him protective of her, but he had never stopped her from working, probably because the previous times she had had severe injuries she ended up at St. Mungo's and as much as she thought that they overreacted sometimes, she had yet to disobey a medical order.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly.

"Told your mother you'd stop by as soon as you could and I'll tell the Office you were run over by a car saving a little girl, will explain your limp." Moody zipped the case.

"You gave me a limp just so we could match?" grinned Tonks.

Mad-Eye glared at her for a short instant before getting his case from the bed.

"Get some rest." The Auror then offered him a curt nod. "Lupin."

"Good night, Moody."

"Cheers."

After seeing him vanishing into thin air, Remus pulled the chair back to the bedpost and sat, watching her for a moment, unsuccessfully trying to stop all his guilt from rushing over. It should not have been this way, he should have been able to stop him, she was counting on him and he disappointed her.

"Should get some rest yourself, you know," Tonks advised him, sleepily.

Remus leant his elbows on his knees and intertwined his own fingers before closing his eyes and swallowing hard.

"I'm so sorry, Tonks," he said suddenly.

Wide awake, she looked at him puzzled.

"It was _not_ supposed to be this way," he pleaded. "Wolves mate for life! In fact, they're one of the best examples of monogamy in nature! They ―" Remus sighed loudly. He did not even know why he was justifying her with all that, perhaps hoping that his culpability would lessen if she knew it, for she needed to know that that was not how things usually were, not how he was expecting them to be when they infiltrated the pack, otherwise he would never have let her accompany him. "But there... I suppose it's all..."

"...Fucked up?" she suggested after an instant.

He nodded. It was precisely how that pack was. He faced his feet, could not quite meet her eyes and see his failure.

"Remus?" she called once a rather long silent moment had passed.

With considerable effort, he forced himself to look at her.

"You're not like them."

_Exactly! ― No!_ He was just like them. Just like them if not worse. He smiled kindly at her. She was a very special girl and he was more than glad to have her in his life. But it could never erase the fact that he had failed her.

"He didn't do anything else to you, did he?"

Tonks shook her head, lying back upon the bed.

"Just wanted to hurt me, but I'm ―" she stopped herself before the auto-pilot took control and moved her eyes to his knees. She reached for his hands and squeezed it before closing her eyes and sucking in a breath. Feeling his thumb caress her, as if encouraging her to move forward, she looked back at him and added, "I'm all right. Thanks to you. I don't know what would've happened if you didn't ―"

"You would have found a way," he assured her. "If anyone could have stopped him, that's you. I couldn't have done what you did; running with that many injuries..."

"It's just training..."

"And your... _morphing_ saved us; the perfect diversion."

Tonks narrowed her eyes whilst looking at him, she had chosen to become one of the foulest living creatures, but all he did was being glad that it saved them. It was not the response she had been expecting.

"You're not... _disgusted_?" she questioned unbelieving.

"Disgusted?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Me, Tonks?"

She bit her lip, standing his gaze for a few short instants before looking away. Most people thought that being a Metamorphmagus was all good fun, but it was just like everything in life, it also had a bad side. Her cheeks flushed whilst she faced the duvet, still not entirely sure to why she had thought Remus was just another bloke when it was so clear that he was not.

He shook his head lightly. She was one of the very few who had seen him at his worst and she had not fled. Instead, she had run to help him, healed him when he tried to escape from her. Merlin! She had kissed him! Of course it was a mistake, but still, she did not loathe him, how could _he_ loathe _her_? It just did not make sense.

"Tonks," he called, pushing the chair away and getting down to one knee near her head, waiting a moment until she gathered the courage to look at him again. After everything they had been through, it just felt right to share with her how he felt, especially if it would make her feel better. He was the one people should be ― He was the one people were disgusted by. "I can... _understand_ you didn't like morphing to... him, I'd be surprised if you had liked and I know how it feels not to be yourself, but you were just pretending. And this a crucial bit for you _did not_ become him, you were _pretending_ to be a terrible creature in order to save us. I could never be disgusted, I'm forever grateful for what you did."

She sighed loudly, smiling at him and feeling her heart incredibly lighter, not quite able to explain why his saying made her feel like that. He gave her hand a light squeeze before letting go. Although the last one had been a mistake, he knew this one was not. Remus leant over her and placed the softest of kisses on her forehead. No wantonness, need, desire or lust on the simple gesture, but affection, friendliness, care and fondness. Tonks's smile went wider. Only then she realised how much she needed it, to be assured she was still liked, to know that the lips of the last bloke who touched her did not wish to draw his pleasure from her, but they belonged to someone who cared about her and _that_ was precisely what she needed.

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><p><strong>AN:** So, I know a few of you will disagree with my view of Auror Training, but I've always had in mind that Dark Wizards do not follow the laws, they are free to use whatever curse they want and the Aurors can't afford to stay out of combat because of pain, but if any of you wish to discuss it any further I'll be happy to do so.  
>-sigh- I struggled with this for a while, contemplated about doing both POVs, but it'd be far too big and wouldn't be as nice; so I decided to go by Remus's because there's been a lot of Tonks's POV in the last chapters and it was also Idk better. It'll probably take me a couple of weeks to update again because I also want to write a chapter for BMS, so yeah. Thanks for all your awesome reviews, I really love them all and I'll love you even more if you press the blue button bellow after putting in the box what you thought of this chapter. ;)<p>

Júlia, podexá que eu aviso quando tiver coisas deles no Pottermore, por enquanto só tem uma menção de um tal de Lyall Lupin que ninguém sabe quem é, a não ser que obviamente é parente do Remo, mas vamos ter que esperar mais. Lembrei da profecia, assim que li a sua resposta. Bom, acho que não, tem milhões lá na sala e ainda mais eles tinham que ficar vigiando a do Harry, né? Não podiam ficar fuçando as outras coisas. XD De nada, flor! Tô muito feliz de ser uma inspiração pra você e eu amo cada um dos seus comentários, acredite! A maioria dos trechos que você cita são os meus favoritos também. ^_^ Pelo jeito temos um gosto bem parecido. Beijo!


	22. 21 The Tonkses

**A/N:** Hey, everyone! ^_^ I spent such a short time writing this one that I might've been able to publish it like last Wednesday, but I've been so busy that I couldn't. :/  
>Thanks a lot for all the compliments in the reviews, I've really loved them all. You are all wonderful readers, thank you so much! And I really, really want to know what you thought about this one, so please, let me know, all righty? ;)<p>

Júlia, POV é point of view, ou ponto de vista. :) E eu entendi o que você quis dizer sobre o amor e concordo plenamente sobre ele ter várias formas, mas o que eu quis dizer foi aquele tipo de amor, sabe? Mas talvez seja melhor escolher outra palavra, vou pensar e talvez eu mude. E não, nada na Tonks no Pottermore, vamos ter que esperar até sair algo da Ordem da Fênix, deve demorar um bocado ainda porque tá no começo do Prisioneiro de Askaban ainda. :/ Bom, esse capítulo termina no comecinho de outubro e o ataque do Sr. Weasley é no final de dezembro, então ainda vai demorar um pouquinho, mas não muito, eu espero. XD

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 21: The Tonkses<span>**

Golden sunbeams, reflecting upon the furniture left the room shimmering in a xanthous shade that eventually made its way to the witch's lids, waking her up after a few hours of a very deep sleep. She blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the light and rubbing them before rolling to her back, which she immediately regretted, causing memories from the previous night to quickly rush to her mind. With a moan she propped herself to a sitting position and ran her hand over her bare back, feeling the delicate tissues of her newly scars that most likely looked as though they were several weeks old by now. Tossed on the floor, she saw her bra and upper robe, the last item did not seem exactly as if she could use again, so she fastened the bra and put the duvet around her torso. In attempting to stand up, she realised the dull pain on her left leg and she gave one more try at a limping step, biting back a moan before dragging herself downstairs.

Entering the kitchen, she saw Remus's back turned to her, working over something on the cooker, she frowned, shaking her head as she moved to the table.

"Wotcher," muttered Tonks, leaning her shoulder against the doorway.

"Good morning," he replied, looking back from the cooker, where he had been pouring something on... something.

"What you doing?" she asked, trying to see what he had been working on.

However, Remus raised his hand, asking for her to wait a moment. Soon after, he summoned a couple of mugs and filled them with whatever he had made.

"Here." He smiled, handing one of the mugs to her. "Nothing better to retrieve energies than chocolate, right?"

She narrowed her eyes, looking from the brown liquid within the mug and back to him with a quizzical face.

"Woke up and realised that there was nothing here," he began to explain. "I'm not really staying here, you see, therefore no supplies. So, I went back to the Headquarters and got a few things to, you know... return the favour."

He smiled if somewhat nervously, half expecting her to mirror it and thank him for the hot chocolate, perhaps say he did not need to do so, but what she did next surprised him. Tonks looked at him as if he had spoken a language unknown to her, frowning and trying to understand.

"Would have let your cousin know about happened, but he was still asle ―" he started in an attempt to make everything clearer.

"Don't you ever sleep?" she asked indignantly. "Is there a werewolf gene that let you have like four hours of sleep a day or something?"

"No... I ― I do," he mumbled and chuckled, slightly uncomfortable. Had he done too much? Did she expect from him no more than what an average host would do? But then again, an average host would prepare their visitor a decent meal.

"Doesn't looks like," she stated, pulling a chair to sit and as she put her hand upon the table to support, she felt a stinging pain around her wrist. "Ouch!"

"What?" questioned Remus.

Tonks caught a glimpse of a bruise on her fist and pulled the duvet over it, whispering "Nothing," trying to sound nonchalant whilst warming her hands on the hot mug.

Having seen her action, Remus walked over the table and took the seat across hers. He gently brushed his fingers around hers, waiting for her to show and trying to get her to look at him instead of the chocolate, but her gaze remained locked with the hot beverage. Slowly, he moved his fingers to her wrist, giving her plenty of time to stop him if she so wished to, but it seemed to have something in her that prevented her from doing anything against him at that instant. She knew she would have resisted if Sirius, Savage, Kingsley or even if Mad-Eye tried to help her then, though, that kind twinkle in Remus's eye made her completely impotent whilst he pushed the duvet away and saw the five purple marks.

An almost imperceptible frown was caught by her as he looked at it for a minute before drawing out his wand and murmured the incantations she knew so well, the ones that would leave her skin as though nothing had happened.

"The other one?" he asked when he had finished.

However, instead of offering him her bruised wrist, all she did was grip the mug tighter, as though trying to prove to him that he did not need to do anything, after all, she was able to nearly break that porcelain in her hands, but he proceeded just like he had done before. She could have stopped him, but at the same time she could not. She could have pulled her hand back and prevent him from healing her, but at the same time she felt frozen as if he kept her there in order for her to let him help her. He had this way of making her heart beat faster and that gentle gaze that assured her that he was one she could trust above anything.

"If there's anything else, try to let me know, all right?" he requested, getting up and walking back to the cooker. "What else do you want for breakfast? Cereal? Pancakes? Toasts?"

"P ― Pancakes sounds fine." She smiled, sipping on her chocolate.

"You can get back to bed when you're done," he informed her, starting to cook the pancakes. "Just close the curtains and you won't know if it's day or night."

"Nah, I've got to visit my parents," she sighed. "Mum probably hasn't slept the rest of the night, worried sick about me."

"Oh, um, you can use my fireplace if you want then," he flipped a pancake, knowing very well that she probably should not apparate yet, "there's a bit of powder in the pot on the floor."

"Mum will be fussing all over me," she exhaled heavily before continued in a pitched voice. "_Nymphadora, you should be more careful, Nymphadora, this, Nymphadora, that!_ Ugh!" She leant her forehead on the table whilst Remus brought some pancakes over, chuckling.

"Don't laugh! S'not funny."

"Sorry." He sat down, helping himself with one. "She's just concerned about you, though."

Tonks rolled her eyes, biting a pancake.

"Da's uorred 'bout me too," she swallowed, "and he doesn't fuss. Well, unless it's something I got myself into like... I don't know, like climbing on a tree and falling down, then Mum would probably pretend she did not care because that's how I'd learn to not get myself into trouble anymore," she finished as though she had her line memorised, imitating someone. "So she'd let Dad come help me, unless it's work because she knows I didn't have a choice or me being clumsy and hurting myself. Sounds weird, I know, but it's ―"

"Not really."

"_Exactly!_"

"Judging by Sirius's parents I have an idea of how your mother was brought up," he began. "Not really the most maternal kind, those Blacks ― No offense."

"None taken," she smiled. "Not a Black," she stated before biting her pancake.

"Either way, they were more offended by him disgracing their family name whenever he got detention than him actually hurting himself. I believe Madam Pomfrey was more worried about his well-being than his mother was."

"But Mum is not really like that," she contradicted, slightly offended. "She cares, she just pretends not to... so I won't do it again. Not that it made too much of a difference, I had Dad after all."

"Oh, I know, I know. I'm sorry," he asked. "Didn't mean it that way. Of course your mother is not like them, she would never have married your father if she was... Again, I'm sorry. I just ―"

Tonks smiled at how uneasy he seemed.

"It's okay... _Hey_, do you wanna come with me?"

Remus frowned.

"With you? Where?"

"Where, Remus?" she mocked. "To mum and dad's. Just so I can show her that I'm not alone, like if she knows that I'm under such wonderful care, she'll let me go sooner," she grinned after finishing imitating that same tone she had done not long ago. "But she'll probably make me have lunch there... Not so bad, I guess."

"I ― Are you sure?"

Wonderful care... He somehow doubted that making her a hot chocolate and pancakes could be classified as a wonderful care.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but she needs to see it. And I need an excuse to leave so you'd be it!" Her grin became wider. "I mean, it's not like you'd be doing something here, right? Come on!" she pleaded, leaning on the table. "Please."

"Well," he sipped on his chocolate as though to give himself a longer moment to think. He did not wish to keep Andromeda from looking after her daughter, especially when he thought that she had more experience in healing her than he did, but she knew he had absolutely nothing to do now that his special mission for the Order had failed and he could not find a nice way to put it out for her, she would see right through him and kill his arguements, one by one. "I don't see why not."

"Awesome!" she grinned. "Thanks! You're not going to regret it, I promise."

"Glad to hear." He offered her a nod, smiling. "You can't go like this, though," he pointed out, indicating the duvet being the only thing to cover her body. "I'll get you a towel so you can take a shower. Then, I'll see if I can find you ―"

"Nah, don't worry!" Tonks shook her head, drinking the last bit of her chocolate. "I can go home and get something. _Don't worry!_ I'll use the fireplace," she added, before tossing the rest of her pancake in her mouth, seeing his features get more serious at the perspective of having her leave the house and perhaps hurt herself more.

"All right then." He stood up, floating the dishes to the sink. "I'll get everything."

"Thanks again!" She smiled zooming to the drawing-room, but not before stopping herself at the painful reminder of the wound on her thigh and limped into the mantel.

Remus sighed as he waved his wand so the few dishes would start doing the washing up after putting a Conservative Charm upon the remaining pancakes. She had suffered a harsh attack just short five or six hours before and was excited, going from one place to the other. Her energy would never cease to amaze him. He fetched the best towel in the house and left it in the toilet for her. He knew that had he been in her place, all he would be able to do for the following ten hours would be to sleep, on a comfort bed or not, one could take any day after a full moon as an example.

In a matter of minutes she had returned and was asking where she could take the shower. He pointed the direction to her and went to don one of his best robes to visit her parents, not that they were exactly good, they were worn out just like all the others, but probably a bit less patched. He had resigned to show his poverty by his clothes long ago, but he felt something strange about her parents, as if he wanted them to like him, even though they already knew them. Soon, she had entered the drawing-room limping and fastening a grey cloak; she had a pixie cut light orange hair and black robes, she had finally morphed back from Amber's body.

"Ready?"

Remus nodded, standing up and watched as she entered the fireplace.

"Wait 'til you see me, okay?"

He nodded again and let the powder fall, creating emerald flames around her feet before she said "The Tonkses'."

Tonks wrapped her arms around herself as she felt her body spinning, watching the many fireplaces as she passed through them until she saw the one so familiar to her and she pulled herself out, tripping on her way out and wiping the ashes on the carpet, figuring her mother would not mind after seeing her in one piece.

"**Mum!**" she called after hearing their voices coming from the floor above. "Dad?" Not a second later, she heard hurried footsteps coming down the stairs and smiled.

Andromeda entered the room running and only stopped when her arms were around her daughter.

"Wot ―"

"_Nymphadora!_"

"― cher..."

"_How are you?_" her mother asked, running her hands over her face, as if wanting to make sure that she did not have a single cut and Tonks could see the small bags under her eyes that indicated that her suspicions of her mother not sleeping the remaining hours of the night were true.

"Fine, I'm fine," she answered stepping backwards.

"And your leg?" questioned Ted standing now beside his wife.

"Getting better," she replied knowing that once they knew her leg had been injured by Mad-Eye, they would need a truthful answer and she allowed her father to embrace her, the minute Remus appeared on the fireplace.

"Mum, Dad, you remember Remus?" she asked, seeing their brows furrowed and walking to welcome her friend. "Remus Lupin, Sirius's friend."

"Oh, of course." Andromeda smiled, stepping forward and offering her hand to shake. "How have you been?"

"Very well, Mrs. Tonks," he answered shaking her hand and replying Ted's nod, who he perceived to have gained more than just a few pounds since the last time he had seen him.

"He was with me last night," Tonks explained. "Spent the night at his place."

"Merlin! And are you all right?" her mother questioned him, looking genuinely concerned.

"Yes, yes," he answered. "All taken care of."

"Good, that's good. Come," she tugged her daughter's arm. "I baked you your cake."

"Mum, you really didn't have to!"

"Oh, it was no trouble at all." Andromeda shook her head.

At that moment Tonks wondered if she had baked the cake in order to keep herself busy and not worrying about her daughter's safety when she could not sleep or just because she knew Tonks loved that cake.

"Really, Mum, Remus made me a wonderful breakfast just now."

Lupin fought to keep his face straight. Wonderful breakfast? Was this a part of her show to keep her mother from fussing too much over her, after all a pancake and some hot chocolate could hardly be considered a wonderful breakfast, it was not as though he had cooked her a Full English.

"Just one slice," Andromeda asked. "You can take the rest with you. And you, Remus, you can have one as well. I can call you Remus, can't I?"

"Of course." He smiled.

Tonks let her breath out in an annoyed puff, one slice just to make her mother happy.

"All right," she smiled and let her drag her to the kitchen, "just one."

Remus followed them to the kitchen where they all sat at the table, except Andromeda, who fetched the cake and put it upon the table before waving her wand and making plates and tableware float to them. In a minute he tasted an incredibly delicious chocolate cake. The strawberry seemed to cut the chocolate sweetness just right and he immediately understood why Tonks loved that cake.

"So, you really okay?" asked Andromeda for what Tonks thought to be the thousandth time.

"Umhm," she nodded. "Ready for another one."

"But what about your leg? I saw you were limping, darling."

"Mum, it's fine, really," she said. "Mad-Eye healed it last night, just aches a bit; will be good in no time."

Seeing her refusing the mothering when she was obviously still hurt, reminded Remus of himself, many years ago. Throughout the summers of his school years he was forced to stay home during the full moons and invariably his mother would come help him with his wounds. He knew it probably hurt more in her to see her son so hurt without much they could do than how much it hurt to turn into that vicious creature every month. He hated to let her see him like that and he refused her help many times, allowing his father to magically heal him instead. However, what he did not know was that it was definitely worse to know that her son was hurt and there was nothing she could do to help, so eventually, he stopped sending her away and allowed her in, despite it taking much more time than it would if he let his father heal him with magic. Until of course he graduated Hogwarts, when he was able to magically heal himself after the transformations and both of them felt incredibly better. Remus just hoped that Tonks would soon come to the same conclusion he did years before.

"Won't hurt to let me have one look, though."

"Mum..." Tonks sighed. She knew that the year her mother had spent training as a healer, before quitting and deciding to become an Arithmancer, gave her more knowledge on healing magic than the average wizard, however, she doubted that Andromeda still knew more than Mad-Eye on that matter, but she also knew that nothing would set her on easy besides checking on her daughter. "All right, all right."

The minute they finished their slices of cake, Ted was the first to stand up and Andromeda soon followed him, gathering the dirty dishes together.

"Oh, just leave it there, darling," he said, waving his hand. "Conservative Charm and it'll be good."

"Just a minute." His wife shook her head, floating them to the sink.

"Really dunno why you bother..."

"Just because you don't care about his house's organisation, doesn't mean I don't!" scolded Andromeda.

Tonks rolled her eyes at her parents as they walked out the kitchen and Remus offered her a half-smile.

"That's not even organisation, that's just a cake on the table ―"

They heard Andromeda exhale heavily before hearing her scream "Nymphadora, what are you doing still there?!"

"...Don't call me that."

"Sit there," her mother commanded, pointing to the couch and utterly ignoring her comment.

Remus followed them and leant his shoulder against the doorway between the two rooms, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Tonks pull her robe to reveal how her pulled muscle from the night before had no more than a light red mark.

"How did you do this?" Andromeda questioned, frowning as she examined the wound closely.

Tonks took in a deep breath as she looked at her mother. Could she tell her exactly what they had been doing? She doubted Dumbledore would mind too much, but if Death Eaters ever found out or even thought for a second that they knew something more about the Order of the Phoenix, they would not give a second thought on torturing them for information and everyone within the Office knew very well what had happened with the ex-Auror Frank Longbottom and his wife after he refused to give information about the secret society. So that was why when her mother gazed back at her, demanding answers, she simply said "Order mission."

"Darling, I cannot help you if you don't tell my how this happened," her mother countered.

"Dromeda ―" Ted tried to calm his wife.

"You don't need to know!" Tonks replied somewhat harshly.

"Dora!"

"I'm your mother, I just want what's best for you!"

"...And I don't?" asked Tonks, raising her brows.

The room stood completely silent as Andromeda looked at her daughter in disbelief. It seemed as though no one dared to move until Tonks pushed her robe back down and stood up. Her mother could say whatever she want, she was not going to tell her a single thing about what she had been doing for the Order.

"You have to tell us at least how you got that!" Andromeda stood up behind her.

"**No, I don't!**" Tonks turned on her heels to face her mother.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Tonks, but your daughter is right." Remus stepped forward pocketing his hands and hoping to finally end the arguement. "Whatever the Order is doing regards to its members and only to them. She should not tell you ― in fact she cannot tell you unless Professor Dumbledore authorises, so if you please."

He then saw Ted folding his arms and narrowing his eyes at him.

"Forgive me, Mr. Tonks, but I meant no disrespect," he assured him. "If you want to know, you're welcome to enter the Order and I guarantee that you'll know all that happens not only with your daughter but with all the others. Merlin knows we could use some more."

"The less you know, the safer you'll be," stated Tonks looking at her mother. "I'm really sorry, but it's jus ―" She sighed. "It's just for the best." She did her best not to limp as she started to walk towards the mantel, followed by Remus and looked at them both. "I'm really fine. If you don't trust me to take care of myself, trust Remus, at least," she said before throwing the Floo powder. "The Lupin Bungalow."

"I'm sorry," he apologised, entering the fireplace. "The cake was delicious, Mrs. Tonks. Congratulations," he complimented before following Tonks.

The first thing he saw when he entered his home, was the Auror throwing herself upon his couch and letting her arm fall over her eyes, covering them. He took his time to wipe the ashes from his cloak before hanging it.

"Do you want anything?" he asked with his hands resting on his hips.

Tonks merely shook her head.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, knowing that the arguement with her parents most likely had brought every bit of her Auror training back.

However, she took her arm from her eyes, letting it hang on the couch's arm instead and smiled softly.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks," she assured him. "I'm all right."

Only then Remus allowed himself to be relieved and smiled.

"The bed is more comfortable, though," he pointed out.

Tonks chuckled.

"In a minute," she said lazily. "And... I'm sorry you had to listen to it," she added, biting her lip.

"Don't worry about it." He shook his head. "Not even close to what I've already witnessed between Sirius and his parents."

"'M almost glad he has a messed up family then," she stated, finally gathering the courage to stand up and go to his room.

"Let me know if you need anything," he asked as she climbed the stairs.

"Will do." She nodded.

Remus watched her until she reached the top of the stairs and disappeared behind the wall before he let himself fall upon the couch she had just occupied. She was not the only one who could definitely use another four hours of sleep. However, just before he drifted to sleep, he heard a knock on the window. Opening his eye, he saw an owl he had already seen before at Tonks's flat and he walked over to let the bird in. It flew to the small coffee table and placed a large pot on it, containing the rest of the cake and a small note that only read two words in a beautiful handwriting, "We understand."

The following day, Tonks aversely left the cares she was receiving at Remus's, but duty called and she rather spend the night at home when she had to be early at the Ministry the next morning.

"Remus?" she called softly, holding the bag which contained her numerous items that she had inexplicably been able to spread around his house in mere two days.

"Yes?" he answered rather surprised for he was already expecting for her to disappear into thin air at any instant.

"Thanks," she said. "For everything." She could not say for sure what or why, but there was something within her that disliked the knowledge she had that Remus would had done for any of his Order colleagues what he had done for her.

"Oh, um, you're most welcome." He smiled. "But I was only returning the favour... for what you did a fortnight ago."

Tonks shook her head.

"No, I, ah... You did much more. I healed one cut and ordered you a bowl of soup, but you... I spent two days in here, and you're not even living here. You left the headquarters because of me and ― I'll make it up for you though."

"You don't have to."

"No, I, ah, I want to," she told him. "I'll take you out for a few drinks," she grinned. "What do you say?"

"Tonks, you really don't have to ―"

"Come on, Remus!" she pleaded. "I'm buying."

Remus sighed. The last thing he needed was to have a girl, who had barely left her teenage years spending her precious gold on him. However, he was fully aware that said girl did not give up on anything easily.

"We'll see," he answered not exactly agreeing, but still not denying her offer.

"I'll take that as a yes," she grinned and before he had even sucked in a breath to reply, she had disapparated from his house, leaving him alone. He would need to find a different way to escape her, make her see that she should spend the gold she had won after weeks of hard work on something she actually wanted to.

* * *

><p>It was not until the beginning of the following week that they met again. In an Order meeting when they were suppose to relate their mission and its consequences to the other members. However, before they could tell their tale, they had to hear to the usual and boring voice of the Potions' Master talking about his mission. Unfortunately, Snape had taken a seat beside Tonks's, who was sitting across the table from Remus, right in front of him. Or perhaps it was fortunately for her, since it allowed her to entertain not only herself during the endless speech but also him, who was finding harder and harder to keep a straight face since the glancing and quick smiles had been replaced by her morphing. At that moment, she had a duck beak and was pretending to get some food from her own hand.<p>

"The Malfoy Manor continues to be the main place for meeting and although the Dark Lor ―"

Tonks had morphed her hair to a midnight black and her nose to a long one with a fair amount of hair coming out of it and had been pretending to talk uninterestingly; Remus had to cough in order to hide a chuckle and he was sure that had Sirius seen what his younger cousin had been doing, he would not have been able to stop himself from burst out laughing.

"Forgive me, Severus." Remus coughed again and clenched his teeth for the briefest of seconds to stop the smile that insisted on coming to his lips after seeing how innocently she looked at him, as if wondering what had happened.

Snape followed Lupin's eyes and looked at Tonks, but she merely looked back at him, somewhat intrigued.

"Please, go on," Remus insisted.

"Although the Dark Lord had considered moving somewhere else, I do not believe he will do so. Now I suppose Nymphadora has something even more important to tell us all." He sat upon his chair, pretending to smile at her.

Even though, she was enraged for her colleague saying her name, she managed to not let out a single word and simply changed her hair colour to pink ― for it had become a bright shade of red at the provocation ― and offered a fake smile back to him before standing up.

"Indeed I do!"

Separately, both of the Order members narrated briefly what happened to them and helped each other on informing the Order what had occurred during the time they were together. Even with the table separating them, they managed to exchange smiles when Mad-Eye came in and explained or rather exaggerated on the extension of their wounds, but Remus could perceive the slight relief he expressed for having his protégée safe and sound there with them.

"Yes, yes. Although the pack of werewolves is a great loss for the Order we cannot forget to be thankful for having both of them here with us now," Professor Dumbledore pointed out, smiling warmly at both of them before clapping. "Now onto a different matter. Next weekend is the first one when students will be allowed to visit Hogsmeade; therefore, we need to track Harry."

"Headmaster?" called a squeaky voice. Flitwick had raised his hand.

"Yes, Filius?"

"Ms. Granger has come to me this week and asked me several times, that's why it called my attention, she asked me if the students have permission to go the Hog's Head. So, I believe it's safe to say that they will be attending the pub."

"Don't suppose they're about to do something illegal, do you, Albus?" asked Professor McGonagall. "I mean, they're always at the Three Broomsticks, so if they are going to the Hog's Head then it's possible that..."

"I think it's high likely, Minerva," replied the headmaster.

"Even better!" exclaimed Mundungus. "The 'Og's 'Ead's almost empty all the time. Only too easy to 'ear what they're sayin'."

"Feels like you've done it quite a few times, don't ya, Dung?" commented Sirius.

"A few times, yeah," admitted Mundungus.

"Would you be willing to overhear Harry and his friends?" questioned Dumbledore.

"Don' see why not," he answered.

"Very well," said the headmaster. "Let me know how it went. Also, professors! I have to remind you all that we must keep an eye on him before he goes to the Hog's Head and after he leaves it. We cannot afford to have him walking unguarded around the village."

With the exception of Snape, who mumbled an agreement, all the other professors nodded.

"Any more comments?" Dumbledore awaited a second, but as no one came forward, he announced "The meeting of the Order of the Phoenix has now ended."

The usual chattering and sound of chairs being pushed aside filled the kitchen instantly. Arthur soon had handed butterbeers to the few who had decided to stay for one more of the delicious dinners prepared by Molly, who had taken pity of Sirius having to eat the preparations Kreacher called food since the Weasleys had moved back to the Burrow.

"Going to need a disguise meself," commented Mundungus.

"How come?" asked Sirius.

"Can't use Moody's cloak and well... Been banned from that pub twenty years ago. Mind you, it's wasn' even my fault ― or maybe jus' a bit, eh," he began to explain, getting a hold of his pipe, but seeing Molly's glare, he put it back in his pocket the same instant.

"Twenty years?" Sirius frowned. "That's a hell of a long time. Don't you reckon the guy would've forgotten now?"

"Nah!" Mundungus shook his head. "That ol' barman's got good memory."

"In that case, should gab with dear Tonks then." Sirius elbowed her. "No one better! Didn't you pass the Disguise thing with high marks without studying?"

"Yeah, only I take it to a whole new level," she grinned at him. "Somehow doubt Dung could keep it up." She winked.

"Think I'll go as a witch again," settled Mundungus.

"A witch?" asked Sirius incredulously.

"Yea', no one doubts an ol' witch under a black veil," Mundungus pointed out. "Wouldn't be the firs' time."

"Oooh! Batting for the other team now, are you, Dung?"

Sirius's bark-like laughter filled the house covering Mundungus's attempts to explain. It had been so long since either of them had heard that sound that they could not help but to laugh along in contentment. The times in which their friend had been so happy had become less and less frequent that not even Molly could stop the smile and only then both of them realised just how much they had missed not simply that sound but also their friend. Even more since it was something so trivial as making fun of an Order member due to something they all knew it was not true and so they knew there was only one thing to do with such cheerful moments, make them last.


	23. 22 Dumbledore's Army

**A/N1:** Hey, guys! So, here it is the newest chapter! \o/ And my usual thank you for all you amazing reviewers, you guys don't know how much you mean to me, siriusly. I really love you all and I'll love even more if you leave what you thought of this chapter at the end. ^_^ Thanks! And bye-bye! Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 22: Dumbledore's Army<span>**

Bizarre. That word could certainly define the sight of several house-elves' heads hanging on the wall and looking back at Tonks. She was lying on the carpet with her arms crossed above her chest. Even though she was beginning to find it somewhat disturbing, she could not stop staring. On that particularly night, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix had been busier than usual, which only enhanced Sirius's good mood; besides Tonks and her cousin, the drawing-room was occupied by the house's second dweller, Remus Lupin, the Weasley couple, talking whilst Molly supervision a couple of needles to knit a maroon jumper, and their eldest son, Bill.

"Ever tried getting rid of them?" questioned Tonks, frowning.

"The elves?" asked Sirius, lifting up his head to the wall. "No, not them. Care to give it a shot?"

"Oh, um, sure."

She stood up and drawing out her wand, she pointed it to one of the heads.

"_Accio!_"

Not a single movement. Well, if she could not take it out, maybe she could destroy it. She was certain that Sirius would most definitely not mind.

"_Diffindo!_"

The head continued attached to the wall.

"_Reducto! Confringo!_"

Nothing. Tonks placed her shoulder against the wall and pointed her wand to the precise spot where it made contact with the head's support.

"_Relashio!_"

Still nothing.

Remus watched her as she failed attempt after attempt. For some strange reason he did not want her there, he wanted her right beside him, occupying the empty seat of the couch. She was too much far away and he wanted her with him.

"Yeah, give up, cuz," said Sirius, shaking his head. "Cursed; most likely. Like almost everything else here."

Tonks placed the tip of her wand right between the eyes of the elf.

"_Bombarda!_" she casted, savouring the word, as though she was sure it would work, but she was wrong. If she did not know better, she would say that the problem was with her wand. "Ugh!" she swirled on her heels annoyed.

Remus licked his lips and swallowed. She looked... _fine_ when she was upset like that.

"Frustrating, I know." Sirius exhaled heavily.

Bill could not help and chuckled at the sight of her so bothered after something so trivial, but seeing the look she shot at him, he shut himself immediately.

"Dunno how many times I tried to destroy that tapestry, but I guess it only lets itself be destroyed when someone messes up with the family name. You know, just the best ones, me, your mum, uncle Alphard..."

"What tapestry?" questioned Tonks, half interested.

"You kidding me?" asked Sirius, unbelievingly, but as his cousin kept looking quizzically at him, he pointed behind himself with his thumb.

The Auror narrowed her eyes and walked over, being followed by him, Remus and Bill. Hanged on the wall across the room, there was an immensely old tapestry, gnawed on several places, most likely by Doxys and utterly faded. The golden thread with which was embroidered still shined brightly nevertheless, showing the names of the members of the Black family back to the Middle Ages. At the very top of the tapestry, on large words, a title could be read.

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black Toujours pur

"Here's your mum." Sirius pointed to a burn mark near to the end of the tapestry.

Tonks crouched to see it properly and could not help but to grin, feeling proud of her mother for having the courage to turn her back on her whole family and choose her father.

"And me." He pointed to another burn mark a few inches away from her mother's.

"Nice job!" she winked looking back at him.

"Thanks." He smirked.

"Bet that's why Kreacher won't take orders from you," estimated Sirius crouching beside her. "You're not here."

"Thank Merlin!" Tonks grinned.

"So you guys are actually second cousins ―" Bill pointed out, but shut his mouth when Sirius and Tonks stood up.

"First cousins! Once removed ―" Tonks and Sirius stopped themselves before start laughing for they had said the same thing, precisely at the same.

"Never try to argue genealogy with a bastard Black," Sirius informed Bill, who raised his hands in redemption.

"All right, all right."

"_Finally! What kept you?!_" said the strained voice of Mrs. Weasley, standing up and barely noticing the half knitted jumper falling on the floor.

Mundungus had made his way to the house and entered the room with his pockets filled with crackling, unknown objects.

"Oh, um," he hesitated, surprised by the sudden attack of words towards him. It seemed to be the first time that Molly looked at him with more than just reprimand. "'Arry, talks a lot tha' boy, and 'is friends." He sat down trying to make the less noise possible. However, Mrs. Weasley was not fooled by his lies, it was crystal clear by the way she glared at him. "Might've made a deal as well. You know, since I was there, got meself a very good price on these c ―"

"YOU WERE THERE ON AN ORDER BUSINESS!" yelped Mrs. Weasley.

"BLOOD TRAITORS! MUDBLOODS! HALF-BREEDS! SCUUUUM!" came the shouts from Mrs. Black in the hall and Bill, Sirius, Remus and Tonks took the cue and went to close it, none of them wishing to witness Molly's wrath.

As they joined their forces to shut the curtains, Dumbledore appeared on the corridor and a minute later they were finally in a silent place.

"Headmaster," greeted Remus with a nod.

"Remus," he nodded back. "And a very good evening to you all. Has Mundungus arrived yet?"

"Yeah. Drawing-room," answered Sirius. "Molly's... _talking_ with him."

"Very well."

Dumbledore climbed the stairs and they all followed him, gladly realising the Mrs. Weasley's shouts had died. The headmaster opened the door and Molly was seen rapidly composing herself.

"Professor Dumbledore!" She smiled. "Fletcher is ready to give you the report."

Mundungus stood up, wiping his hands upon his trousers.

"Yea', yea'." He cleared his throat. "'Arry's gonna create a defence group." He let his words hang on the air for a moment and watched the eyes wide in surprise. "With 'is friends. About thirty of 'em, I think. Says the woman ain't teaching 'em, so 'e'll be the teacher. They don' know yet where it's gonna be, but they'll've 'Arry to teach 'em to defend 'emselves against You-Know-Who."

"But that's dangerous!" chided Molly. "With Umbridge there... if they're caught..."

"So they all believe in Voldemort's return?" questioned the headmaster.

"Most of 'em," answered Mundungus. "Bit of a row, there was, but they all decided to join. Signed a parchment and all."

"We can't let them do this, Dumbledore!" pleaded Mrs. Weasley.

"They signed a piece of parchment?" enquired Dumbledore and the tiniest smile appeared on his lips for a brief second when Mundungus nodded.

"The girl's idea, 'Erminy."

"Hermione," corrected Remus, somewhat resentful for him saying wrongly the name of one of his favourite students.

"Yea', yea'..."

"Dumbledore, they can't do this, can they?" Molly asked.

"You can't deny that they will learn something, Molly," Tonks pointed out and the professor nodded.

"Well, I'm afraid they are not exactly prohibited to do so," answered Dumbledore. "Of course I have no authority whatsoever to what you let your children do, because I would be willing bet a sack of sherbet lemons that the four of them are within the group. Though, I ask you, shouldn't we allow them to learn to defend themselves in a place that is secure instead of facing Death Eaters?"

"_They will __**not**__ be facing Death Eaters! They'll be expelled!_"

"We all hope not." He smiled warmly. "However, I must remind you to not use owls to let them know how you stand before this, unless of course, you can find a way to pass on the information, without actually saying it."

At that moment, as though she had heard what they were saying, as though she knew what they were planning, Hedwig entered through the window.

"Ah! Such a smart bird." Dumbledore walked over and patted her. "Evidently, owls can be used to set a date to different ways of communication." He looked at Sirius above his glasses.

"The fireplace!" Sirius's eyes widened.

Dumbledore nodded shortly and smiled warmly, walking towards the door.

"Good night."

"What fireplace?" asked Arthur.

"Gryffindor Common Room's," explained Sirius, walking over the ochre desk and getting a quill, a bottle of ink and a short piece of parchment.

"You're going to Hogwarts?" questioned Bill unbelievingly.

"Just my head," he answered with a grin and writing five words on the parchment. "I've done it already a couple of times. I'll talk with them about it," he assured Molly.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she enquired. "What if you get caught?"

"How would I get caught, Molly?" Sirius passed his fingers through his untidy hair. "Floo powder is pretty safe. Besides, you're the only ones who know anything, if you don't go opening those big mouths of yours to anyone, there's no reason to believe that everything won't go all right." He showed them the note he had just written, which read: 'Tonight, same place, same time'. "The note'll be there on the morning post and there's no way anyone can know what we're up to."

"Well, in that case..." Mrs. Weasley twisted her hands nervously before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I ― I'll talk to him as well!" But she put her fingers over her mouth. "Bollocks! I have duty tomorrow night! ..._You_ can tell him!" She pointed her index finger directly at Sirius's face. "You tell Ron that I _forbid_ him from entering that group! On no account _whatsoever_ he is to take part on an illegal Defence Against the Dark Arts group! He'll be expelled and ― and ― and his future will be ruined! It's much too dangerous and ― I know I can't do anything about Harry and Hermione, but you tell them that I strongly advise them to quit the group, beg them to remember that I only have their best interests at heart, I'd never ―" She sighed deeply. "They have no business on training to defeat Death Eaters. _Death Eaters!_ Who they think they are? Just kids... There'll be plenty of time for them to learn to defend themselves! Two whole years he has to come before he can _think_ of fighting Death Eaters."

Sirius rolled his eyes. They were not kids anymore.

"Sirius..." rebuked Molly.

"What? I'll do it."

"_Swear_ you'll do it."

"I swear I'll tell your son you forbade him to stay in the group and Harry and Hermione you strongly advise them to quit," said Sirius, shaking his head from side to side with each word. "Anything else?"

"No," she still looked at him as though she did not trust him, but she could not do anything about it, "that'll do, but make sure to use my words."

Sirius then tied a firm knot on Hedwig's leg and let her fly into the night. As the Weasleys, Tonks and Mundungus got their things together and left the room headed back to their homes, Remus perceived a twinkle upon Sirius's eye, glinting distinctively with pride. He knew that creating an illegal Defence Against the Dark Arts group when they were not being taught said subject was precisely the kind of thing he and James would have done.

* * *

><p>The following night found Remus sitting in front of the fireplace trying to find within the Daily Prophet anything that might indicate that the Ministry was beginning to accept the return of the Dark Lord, but it seemed as if Cornelius Fudge was just as determined as another girl he knew... Bugger! That was exactly why he had decided to read the newspaper in the first place. For some odd reason he was having a hard time getting his mind off of her, she just seemed to return every time he managed to send her away. Wherever he went, he could see her smiling and laughing... happy.<p>

Suddenly, the paper in his hands was smashed and Sirius's nose was a couple of inches from his.

"Didja hear what I said?"

Remus shook his head once and frowned, looking at his best friend. Since when had he entered the room?

"Sorry, what?"

"Merlin, Lupin! Where were you?" Sirius chuckled at how lost he looked.

"Ahn, just the Prophet, you know, trying to see if there's any hope..."

"Not for a good while..." Sirius shook his head, walking towards the mantel. "D'you wanna say something to Harry?"

"No. Think Molly got it all covered." Remus smiled weakly at him.

"Yeah," he grinned before throwing the Floo powder. "Gryffindor Common Room." His head disappeared under the ashes only to reappear a second later. "Too full," he answered Remus's quizzical look.

Lupin checked his watch; it was still twenty past eight, certainly there were several students catching up with late homework or simply enjoying a quiet night, he doubted Sirius would manage to talk with Harry before eleven.

And so, hour after hour, his best friend checked if they had a clearance to talk with him in private and finally, when it was well past midnight, Sirius finally kept his head stuck into the fireplace for longer than a second, leaving Remus to deduce that he had at last been alone with the trio within the Gryffindor Common Room.

Not ten minutes had passed when Sirius pulled his head back and leapt to his feet, coughing.

"Gulped some ashes?" asked Remus with a chuckle, barely raising his eyes from the paper.

"...No," he managed to answer between coughs and as Remus finally lift up his gaze, he met Sirius's afflicted one.

"What?" he questioned, standing up and walking to him.

"I dunno..." he put his hands around his neck for a moment. "It's like... there was someone there with me... an arm, it seemed, trying to grab me."

Remus's eyes widened. Had someone been tracking their moves? But how did they know where Sirius had been? The note was completely undecipherable... unless someone already knew of Sirius's previously conversations with Harry.

"Did you see it? The arm, I mean," wondered Remus.

"No, I just... sort of felt it."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Sirius continued to look worriedly at his best friend, as though hoping for answers, but there was nothing Remus could say about how whoever was there knew he would be there.

"Someone knew," he concluded. "We can't use it anymore. Or at least... leave it be for a while, let the person believe we will no longer be using it to communicate before call upon it once more..." Remus pocketed his hands, knowing very well, how Sirius felt, it had been the only way he had to be in touch with Harry. Discarding owls for they were easily intercepted, using the fireplace Sirius had been able to inform Harry on the little bits the boy could know of what had been happening outside, as well as take away some of his loneliness for being trapped inside that house. Now, however, it was gone and would not be possible for a good amount of time. "You should let Dumbledore know."

Sirius drew his wand and closed his eyes for an instant.

"_Expecto Patronum!_"

Remus watched the large dog he knew so well run through the wall and into the night.

"As a last resort, though, when it's urgent... can be used," exposed Remus.

Sirius nodded feebly, walking back to confine himself up in his room and leaving him alone to think of what might have happened as well as about a certain pink-haired Order member. A witch that stubbornly had decided to not leave his mind and that, for a moment, made him think the sight of her the following morning had been an extremely realistic mirage his subconscious had planted, because, well, she simply had no business in the headquarters that day, though he had to admit that he usually did not pictured her with a midnight black hair. Until she summoned a portable stereo and showed him with a grin that had miraculously sent all the tiredness from the day before a full moon away.

"What time does the moon rise tonight?" she asked sounding interested.

"Quarter to six," he answered, unsure of why she was so keen to have this knowledge.

"Aw, you'll miss the match then?" She lowered the stereo. Although it was a question, it sounded much more like a really sad statement.

"'Fraid so..." He nodded shortly; immensely glad for her to have thought of him at the perspective of the following match, but equally saddened when he realised he had been the one to make her sad in the first place.

"I'm telling you, we're in for a tough one against the Tornados, they've got a bloody good team this year!" Tonks placed the stereo upon the coffee table and continued to talk incessantly. For a moment, he had even forgotten that she had been the sad girl before him a short instant ago, she was all smiles now; always on the bright side. "Too bad you'll lose it. Don't worry, though, I'll tell you every little thing later," she grinned, but it quickly disappeared from her face when she eyed him and slowly it became a frown. "Why you wearing a blue shirt?"

Surprised, Remus looked down to chest and saw a worn shirt in a denin shade of blue.

"I..." He looked back at her only now realising that she had been donning a white T-shirt with a small crest of the Magpies on the upper left and a black skirt accompanied by her signature boots.

"No, sir. No way!" She marched towards him and for an instant he was slightly scared of the look in her eyes. She swirled him around and pushed his back with both her hands towards the stairs. "Second lesson, Remus: you don't wear your rival's colours on the day of the match. Ever. So go fetch yourself something else to wear. Black or white'd be better, though you can choose anything _but blue_."

He allowed her to lead him towards the staircase and began climbing it. He had no idea why the colour of his shirt was such an important deal, there was a bit of him that wanted to go back downstairs and say that he did not care, he had too many factors ruling his life and he would not let Quidditch be another and therefore he would stick with the same shirt. However, there was another bit of him, one that was bigger than the first, one that was aware that him changing his shirt would bring a smile to her lips and he wanted to see her happy. After all, there was nothing wrong in wanting a friend of yours to be happy, even if it was for the shortest second.

Remus came back just to see that the eldest of the Weasley boys had also joined them and Tonks seemed to be in a deep conversation about Quidditch with him, but she did not only grin when she saw his white shirt, but also winked at him. He could feel the wolf in him howling gladly at her response, there was simply something inexplicable about her. He was purely joyous at that gesture from her.

Gradually their day went by, chatting about anything and everything, from Bill's relationship with Fleur, passing by Romanian politics and the tiny progress Charlie had been able to make with foreign wizards and back to the British and Irish Quidditch League. Glances had been stolen by both of them, each one met with the same friendly, but indefinably remote expression from his part. Even with the full moon a few hours away, Remus was now more than glad of the several years he had to perfect the self-control he exhibited most of the time, no matter what he was feeling inside. Or rather the wolf seemed to be feeling. How could he be so glad to just have her beside him? It just did not seem right; yet, it did.

Tonks did her best to relish on the way that her friend seemed to be almost happy that day despite the bags under his eyes and the more prominent wrinkles across his features. However, there was this agony that she seemed unable to send away; just to know that soon he would be experiencing the same painful transformation she had seen a month before, settled an affliction within her core.

The light sound of laughter had been filling the air for a good few minutes when Remus quietly left the room to prepare himself, which did not go unnoticed by the Auror. She stopped laughing along with them instantly and moved to follow him, earning a couple of odd looks from them, but she ignored completely and stumbled with the door on trying to shut it close. Reaching the hallway, she saw the door to his room open, certainly he did not expect someone to come after him and she froze, wondering what she would say. Good luck? Well, it was not a matter of luck. Be safe? Anyone knew he would not exactly be safe. She exhaled heavily and spun on her heels to walk away.

"Um, Tonks?" she heard him calling and turned back to face him. He did not have a clue to what she was doing up there, but that intoxicating smell of vanilla, cream and cherry had invaded his sensitive nostrils and found himself leaving the bedroom after her with the case containing the cleaning clothes he would need in the morning.

"Yeah?" she replied nervously and biting her bottom lip.

Remus swallowed, sharpening a breath and watching as her slowly sent away the blood from her lip and make a thin white line appear. _Nice_, he could not stop himself from thinking. He forced himself to lower his gaze, but he was unsure if it was a smart move. The combination of army boots and a skirt that only covered half of her shapely thighs was... very, _very_ nice.

"I..." he began, gazing at his shoes, "'ve got to... go."

"I know, I just..." she swallowed the lump in her throat when his eyes fell upon hers, "wanted to say good-bye."

"Oh, um... all right." He nodded and moved forward. "...Good-bye."

Tonks smiled feebly and stepped aside.

"Good-bye," she said as he turned his head back to her from the stairs.

At that instant she felt like hexing herself. Did she really have to act so stupidly? He already had so much to deal with and she came up there to simply disturb him more? Why couldn't she just have stayed down there with Bill and Sirius? Honestly, she had just made everything so much worse for him. Ugh! She could almost hear her mother's voice. She really needed to start acting more maturely. Hermione for sure would have left him at peace and not left him uneasy as she had done whilst he walked out to such painful fate.

On top of everything there was the light guilt for spoiling what should have been his successful mission. If she had not gone with him, he would probably have been able to infiltrate within the pack and by now, if he had not made contact with Greyback yet, he would have a clue on to where he was hiding. If she had not gone, there would be a decent reason for him to suffer the loss of consciousness he hated so much and not simply because she had decided that she was better than a lycanthrope to infiltrate a pack full of adult ones. Her fault. He could have been gathering crucial information for the Order by now or feeling safe with a goblet of Wolfsbane, but instead, he would be suffering in a few minutes time because she did not learn her place.

With a sigh, she returned to where she should have never left and gazed down to her watch as she sat on the couch once again. Twenty past five. He still had precisely twenty-five minutes before the moon came up and yet, she could not decide if it was too much or not enough.

Remus entered the fireplace and after throwing the Floo powder, he travelled through many different fireplaces until he saw the ever familiar one. Wiping the ashes off his cloak, he could not help but to recall the last time he had done this and an image instantly filled his mind. Tonks had thrown herself on the couch across the room, looking tired and somewhat ill, he might have said, but the smile she had offered him when he asked if she was all right... He definitely could live seeing it for every single day of his life.

Suddenly, he shook his head. What was happening to him? Those were not the usual thoughts that commonly hovered with him, even in the full moon nights. But he did not have time for them. He zoomed down to the basement and was right on time to put up the defensive spells, take off his robes, close the magical locks and secure his wand. Maybe it was for the best. He had always hated the waiting, not that he enjoyed any bit of it, but the waiting itself was awful enough. Not knowing when you will lose your mind, when the first pain will strike, when you will feel the beast howl in control. He was glad that it did not need to happen, not on that night, at least.

Remus gritted his teeth when the first pain hit him, the uncomfortable sensation of his skin morphing was clouded by the excruciating pain of his bones and muscles morphing and the acute one that came from when the wolf fought to set itself free from the locks around his wrists and ankles. Almost gladly, he welcomed the fur that started to cover and warm him in such cold night. He could feel his conscious thoughts slipping away and even so, the last one still belonged with a pink-haired Auror who had left a joyful room just to say good-bye to him.

When at last the clock hit eight, Tonks, Sirius and Bill sat around the stereo. She stared at it as though her life depended on it, greeting happily the distraction from what was happening with her friend at that precise moment and trying to take solace on the thought that the worst was gone for now and he was just... ripping himself apart out of frustration for not having anything else to bite. She sighed audibly, getting a couple of odd looks from the men with her, which she rolled her eyes in order to hide what she was feeling and gestured towards the stereo.

"We shoulda hired McCarthy instead of Campbell."

"But Campbell just scored," Bill brought forth, frowning slightly.

_Oh, shit._

"Yeah, but... Campbell isn't as good as she is."

"As long as he's scoring, cuz, you should just... be glad, you know," Sirius spoke.

"But McCarthy's much younger, so she'll still be chasing long after Campbell's retired," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's too late now, innit?" Sirius's eyebrows rose. "Again, just be glad he's scoring and we'll deal with it when he stops."

"S'pose." Tonks shrugged, glad to put an end to the arguement and being able to go back to simply contorting her face more frequently when the Tornados scored than grinning and cheering when the Magpies did.

After a bit more than two hours and a half, in other words, too soon for her, the referee ended the match when Kelly got her hands on the snitch, earning another one hundred and fifty points to the Tutshill Tornados, who won with four hundred and sixty points against two hundred and twenty.

Exhaling heavily, Bill stood up from the couch where he had been laying lazily and headed towards the door.

"Cheers." He waved at them.

"See ya." Sirius nodded shortly.

"Bye." Tonks barely lifted up her gaze to the Weasley.

When the narrator bid his farewell and Magic Works by The Weird Sisters began to play, she sighed somewhat bored and stretched her legs to the seat Bill had been occupying and lay her head on the couch's arm.

"Thought you liked 'em," said Sirius mirroring her action on the other couch.

"Lov'em," she corrected him, "but this song... Hell, is just too slow. Kirley was in love and did this." She pointed to the stereo almost fed up.

"No one's perfect, I suppose." Sirius chuckled.

"Yeah..." She chuckled along with him.

"Did you hear about the bloke's marriage ― Tremitt or something?"

"Tremlett," she rectified, looking puzzled at him. Had he really implied she had not heard about something related to... _them?_ "Yeah, I did..."

"Sorry," grinned Sirius.

"Shame, though," she commented. "Kind of a peng."

Her cousin laughed lightly.

"Should've made your move sooner, Tonks."

"Nah..." She shook her head. "Just a looker, really."

"If you say so..."

As silence fell, she could not help, but let her mind wonder straight back to him, to the lycanthrope she was so sorry for having to go through such painful transformations every month. She wished ― she _really_ wished there was a cure or at least something she could do besides ― Her eyes widened and she stood up at once.

"Back in a jiffy!" she announced, already springing out the door.

Tonks went downstairs and to the door, but she did not leave the house. Her target was the hanger right beside it, where her coat was and inside its pocket the little bottle of Dittany. She hurried up to Remus's room, stumbling on the last step and placed the bottle neatly upon his bed, to make sure he would see it and heal himself somewhat before resting. When she finally returned to the room filled with music, Sirius looked slightly quizzically at her over his somnolent eyes.

"Loo," she answered simply before throwing herself on the sofa yet again. "Sirius?"

"Hm?"

"I've been thinking..." she began, trying to make him come out a bit of his sleepy state. "What do you think about having a knees up on Halloween for the Order?"

On the contrary to what she would have thought, Sirius eyed at her wide awake.

"I..." he looked to the wall opposite from her, "don't think it's a good idea."

"Why not?" She frowned, utterly puzzled to why her cousin would refuse some fun to light up his mood.

"It's just... Halloween..." He put an arm behind his head and pretended to be extremely interested on the ceiling. "It's James and Lily... you know..."

Tonks frowned for a moment before remembering that it was in a Halloween night, nearly fourteen years ago, that Voldemort had been defeated after murdering two of Sirius and Remus's best friends.

"Oh..." A few silent seconds went by before she propped herself on one of her elbows and eyed him with renewed interest. "Shouldn't we do it anyway? I mean, will keep your mind off of it. You know, a distraction," she grinned, after all she had just realised that even though she could not completely keep her mind from something that was bothering her, having a distraction had certainly helped.

"Dunno, Tonks..."

"Come on, I know you know you don't wanna be sad about it."

She grinned widely, trying to convince her cousin, who looked at her for a moment before gazing back at the ceiling.

"Fine..."

Although, it was clear that he still had some doubts about it, she was certain that it would help. Smiling, she copied him and looked at the ceiling. She still had three weeks to organise, more than enough time. All she would need was to buy a good amount of butterbeers; convince Molly to cook, which she doubted it would be a hard task, but she would need to buy the food anyway; get together her best albums of The Weird Sisters and not forget the stereo; some pumpkins and other ornaments, little bats, ghosts and thestrals should do the trick; besides of course, talking with Dumbledore, though she did not see a reason to why the headmaster would be a problem.

Whilst she began the preparations for the Order's Halloween knees up in her mind, Sirius fell asleep. Tonks figured it was time to allow herself some rest as well, without even thinking of going home, she waved her wand to the stereo and then to the candles, but the minute her eyelids closed, the image of Remus in his werewolf form, howling came back to his mind. They flew open again and she hugged her own stomach, shifting uncomfortably on the couch, facing the threadbare cushions.

Swirling her wand in her hand, minutes passed as she awaited the moment sleep would claim her and she would take a break from the anguish feeling in her core. Minutes became an hour, she could no longer handle to have such affliction as her only company and she waved her wand one more time to the stereo, which began to play Flying Carpet by The Hobglobins. Definitely not the best, but still better than the howls that she could not stop herself from listening.

Between the songs the Wizarding Wireless Network had been playing and the beeps of her watch, Tonks counted the hours, hoping desperately to drift to an unconscious state for she did not wish to have to face a whole day of work without a second of sleep, but apparently she would not have a choice. However, at half past five in the morning, her watch began beeping incessantly and she heard an annoyed murmur coming from Sirius's immobile body, sighing she got up and left the room.

Before she knew, without making any conscious decision to do so, she found herself at the doorstep of Remus's room, looking at the bottle of Dittany she had placed upon his bed earlier. Re-entering, she opened the first drawer of the bedside table, getting a spare piece of parchment, quill and ink. She quickly wrote a few words, just to make sure he knew it had been her who left the healing artefact and left, stopping only at home to get ready for work before heading to the Ministry.

"Match ended up late last night again?" questioned Savage with a small grin when not even her job had been able to empty her mind completely from the distress.

"Yeah..." She rubbed her hands over her face before offering him a fake smile. "I'm fine. We lost... Bit upset, that's all."

* * *

><p>It was almost half past seven when Remus Lupin was finally able to stop panting and aching for long enough to get his wand back and rid himself of the magical restraints. As fast as the dull pain upon his limbs allowed him to, he got dressed went back into the house and Flooed himself to the number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Climbing up the staircase with immense difficulty and stopping at the top to catch up with his breath, he finally made it to his room, seeing the tiny bottle with the medication over a short note.<p>

_Thought you might need it. Get better soon!_

_Tonks_

A splash of ink blotted the right knob-end where she had left the quill hanging after she had finished, he supposed. She did not have a perfect handwriting, it seemed as if she had written it in a hurry, but it still pretty understandable and he could not help that it fitted her perfectly; he would not call it ugly, untidy for sure, but ugly he could not. Smiling, he placed the parchment on the bedside table and undressed himself. He applied the transparent liquid upon his cuts, clenching his teeth when the burning sensation took over each one of them and the green smoke came from his wounds before magically bandaging them and entering under the duvet, feeling grateful for the Dittany and so much better. However, for some odd reason, from the couple of items found upon his bed, the medicine had not been the one that made him feel even more healed. The note, yes. She had thought of him. She wanted him to get better soon. Those thoughts made him feel both happy and guilty. He could not believe that just before he left he had been looking at her as though she was someone he could ― That was not right. She was such a nice girl and he could not ― _would_ not allow himself to ever think of her that way, even right before a full moon, when the wolf was nearly uncontrollable, he would manage to do it. She was a friend, a friend who cared for him and made him feel, despite being a lie, as though he was not alone in his struggle against his condition. A true friend.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** And dear **alicewiggles**, even though I had already planned to do this, I wrote this one with you in mind. :) I think they'd all laugh loads too, but at this point the Dumbledore's Army doesn't have this name yet, so that's why. Later, though! :D


	24. 23 The Hallowe'en Fiasco

**CHAPTER 23: The Hallowe'en Fiasco**

Later that day, when her shift had ended and Tonks was preparing herself to sleep much earlier than usual, she heard a knock on her window and lifted up her face to see Penates there, who was utterly soaked due the heavy rain. She walked over and opened the pane to let him in, which he did and as she closed it, he flew to his cage. Tied on his leg, she saw a tiny bag and a note. She got the items and smiled when she saw her bottle of Dittany within the bag, as though it was a signature to whom had sent it to her and she hurried to unfold the note.

_Dear Tonks,_

_Thank you very much for the Dittany, it was certainly helpful.  
>Nevertheless you shouldn't have worried yourself over me,<br>after all these years, I am more than used to it by now._

_Remus J. Lupin_

Whilst her owl ate a few treats and drank a bit of water, she ran to her dresser and quickly wrote a few words.

_Sorry, Remus, I guess I just worry, can't help it._

_Are you really all right?_

_Tonks_

She tied it on Penates's leg and cast an Impervius Charm on her owl before opening the pane for him.

A short half an hour later, she was staring at not only his first note, but at the four that followed as well.

_I wouldn't say all right, but I am surely getting better._

_―_

_That's good! You know, you shouldn't eat Kreacher's dinner, you should get Sirius to order you something._

_―_

_I'm afraid your advice has arrived a bit too late. We have dinned already._

_―_

_Yeah, didn't pay attention to the time, sorry. What you doing then?_

_―_

_Not much, just resting. Why?_

_―_

_Mind if I come?_

_―_

_Not at all._

Each and every one of them had made her heart speed up as she waited impatiently to the next. Now, though, she grinned widely at it, but also felt inexplicably anxious. She smiled at Penates, who even though did not make long trips to the Grimmauld Place, was not happy to leave during such rain. She suspected that he knew those were not the kind of emergency he had been trained for, but well, visiting a sick friend was simply a different kind of emergency. The next second she had vanished into thin air and reappeared upon the last step, tapping her wand on the door knob, hearing the several clicks of the magical locks being unlocked. Tonks tiptoed her way upstairs, trying to not wake up Sirius's mother. The Auror knocked thrice when she arrived.

"Come in," she heard Remus's voice more hoarse than usual.

"Wotcher!" she grinned, shutting the door with her foot.

"Hello," he greeted warmly.

For an instant, she simply absorbed the image of her friend sitting in bed, under the covers, full of bandages and placing a book upon his bedside table, a hand placed protectively below his ribs. He seemed just as ill from the month before and she was not sure as to why, but that made her heart sunk and she was unable to keep the smile in her face. Perhaps it had been the tone of his letters, but she had indeed thought that he would be in a better shape than then, though, now that she thought of it, there was no reason to believe he would be any better, he had not been under the effect of the Wolfsbane Potion anyway.

"How're you?" she asked with vacillation.

"Getting better," he smiled wider, feeling even better instantly, "much better."

Oh, yeah, right. She knew that already. She walked over and promptly and smiling, sat herself on the floor.

Remus's furrowed his brows, feeling as though he was the worst host to ever exist. She had given him medicine to heal better and faster, had come visit him despite looking very tired and he would not even give her a decent place to sit?

"Sorry, I'll get you a chair ―" He started to move to get his wand, but she shook her head.

"No, you don't have to. It's comfy enough," she assured him.

Narrowing his eyes, he let them stayed locked upon her figure for a while longer than usual and she decided to stop his mind from working on whatever it was working at that moment before he decided to do something that was completely pointless.

"Glad the Dittany helped," she commented, looking at the ceiling.

"It did." Remus nodded. "Thank you once again."

"You're welcome," she grinned. "Hey, did Sirius tell you?"

"... About what?"

"About the knees up we're having on Hallowe'en of course!" She propped herself up, getting closer to the bed and ignoring the grimace that began to arise upon his face. "_My_ brilliant idea! S'not official yet, so don't go telling everyone, still need to talk with Dumbledore; don't think he'll be a problem, though."

"Tonks..." he began looking as overwrought as ever. "It might be better if we ―"

"Remus, I know," she bellowed. "James and Lily, I know. Sirius told me. But ― This is what I told Sirius and he agreed: ask yourself, wouldn't it be better to have a distraction than to keep thinking about it all day?" Her eyebrows rose as if to prove her point.

He stared at her for longer than necessary, his chest rising and falling as he breathed, apprehensiveness never leaving his features. Had she really just suggested for them to celebrate on the anniversary of James and Lily's death? For over a decade, he had tried several different ways to deal with their deaths, but to no avail. He had just recently realised that there was absolutely nothing he could do that would make the date any better. However, he found himself utterly powerless to take away the smile that had settled on her lips by expressing his point of view therefore, instead he simply answered "It's worth giving a chance."

"Knew you'd love it!" She winked before lying on the floor once again. "So, I've been thinking about getting Molly to cook ― obviously. And some pumpkins, bats and ghosts as ornaments, maybe a few thestrals, think they'd be nice too. Some sweets besides the usual feast ― Hey, d'you wanna help me organise it? When are you going to be _really_ better?"

"Oh, um, another two or three days, I'd say."

Never in his whole life after the tragedy that happened on the night nearly fourteen years before, Remus Lupin would have pictured himself attending a party on a Hallowe'en night, let alone organise one he would attend to, but he had to admit that it would certainly be a distraction, he only did not think it to be strong of enough to actually keep his mind off of it.

"Sure," was the only answer he could give her.

"I never told you about the match, did I?" Without waiting for an answer she proceeded. "You were lucky you weren't here, they made a pig's ear out of it. Their chasers seemed to be in sync, seriously, they got us acting batty and they won with four hundred and sixty over two hundred and twenty. Though, Bradley played a good match, it seemed, could've been worse. At least we stopped them from getting more points and that's a good thing."

"Certainly." He nodded.

"In any case," Tonks yawned standing up, "I'm knackered, so I'm gonna go and let you rest some more."

"Yes, thank you again."

"Don't mention it!"

As she smiled, closing his door, Remus wondered if she was knackered as she had said or if she merely wanted to let him sleep for she most definitely did not look tired.

* * *

><p>It took Tonks a week to meet Professor Dumbledore in an Order meeting, he agreed with the idea, promising to pay a visit if things at Hogwarts ended not too late and finally she was able to begin organising the Hallowe'en's special, which reduced the time she would have to do so, especially between her job and her shifts watching the Prophecy. The Diagon Alley's shops were teeming with different kinds of ornaments for Hallowe'en, which left her gold bag considerably lighter and earned her an amused grin from her cousin when she arrived at the Headquarters with a couple of huge sacks and stored them all in his drawing-room.<p>

Meanwhile, Remus had been assigned by Tonks to talk with Molly about cooking on Hallowe'en, which she happily accepted and started to talk incessantly about all the kinds of food she would prepare. At long last, both of them agreed to meet the day before at the Hogsmeade village to pay a visit to the best store of wizarding sweets.

"Acid Pops!" Tonks burst to them. "Loads!" she grinned seeing Remus slightly surprised face. "They're my favourite," she explained.

"Ever had any accident?" he questioned, thinking of the effect of opening a whole in one's tongue the sweet could have.

"A few, yeah," she answered and started picking some, "but they're worth it, though," she assured him. "And you? D'you have a favourite?"

Remus took a moment to answer.

"Not really," he admitted. "I quite like Liquorice Wands, though."

Tonks narrowed her eyes, swirling on her heels and scanning the shop until she spotted what she had been looking for.

"Liquorice Wands it is then," she stated, walking towards it.

Although, he felt like denying for it was not fair for them to buy something just because he was fond of the items, they should focus on what would be good for the whole Order so, he was about to ask her to buy something else, but he was stopped by the sight of her already gathering a good amount of them and having more than some difficulty to carry it all. He knew they had to choose some of the sweets to take and whoever she was with, she would have done the same thing. With a smile, he walked over to her.

"Here, let me," he offered, taking some from her hands.

"Oh, thanks!" She smiled. "Should we take some?" she asked, indicating the Fudge Flies, but they were quickly forgotten when she spotted the bowl with Bat's Blood Soup. "Oh, we've _gotta_ take some of these!"

That enthusiasm. Watching her grin as she reached for the Marshmallow Fondue, Remus was sure that if there were lots of students from Hogwarts there, she would not need her ability to morph to blend more than easily and perhaps it was the fact that he had lost his enthusiasm for the small things many years ago, but somehow, he liked it in her, he liked it a lot.

"Keep it up and we might have to tell Molly she won't need to prepare any food for tomorrow."

Tonks lowered her shoulders, gazing at him for an instant before sticking her tongue out for him. Fifteen minutes later though, they had finally finished or rather, Tonks had finally finished choosing everything she wanted to have at the Headquarters. They disapparated to the Grimmauld Place and stocked it all inside the pantry just to take it out on the morning of the following day to decorate the house at last.

Molly had been cooking during all the afternoon, filling the house with that delicious aroma whilst they worked, Tonks had gladly welcomed the Minister's decision of letting them all work until noon and then be free to go to their homes, but for the Auror it meant, her cousin's home.

Orange and black strips, sometimes hanging from the ceiling and sometimes simply floating in the air, had been put by them in almost all the rooms. Live bats decorated nearly the whole house and one would need to be careful to not smash any of the tiny thestrals that walked on the floor, for once they all saw a good side on the way Sirius's parents had decided to make their home look like, it was a perfect fit for Hallowe'en, and so they were now filling the talking pumpkins with all sorts of sweets. With so much in need to be done, Remus had been successfully distracted some of the time, however, during most of it, he had to be constantly forcing himself to not think of two of his best friends, who had died precisely fourteen years before, putting up a brave smile whenever he caught Tonks glancing at him with more than just simple interest on what he had been doing, but said task was only becoming harder and harder.

"Jelly Slugs ready," announced Sirius holding his pumpkin up.

"Um..." Tonks looked up from the one she had been filing with Chocolate Skeletons and eyeing the table, she ordered "Put 'em there."

Sirius took one and as he moved to shove it inside his mouth, they all heard the enchanted pumpkin say "Not before the time, Mister!" However, Sirius only rolled his eyes and raised his shoulders before eating the sweet in his hand.

At eight, they had finished it all and Tonks was putting on her favourite album of The Weird Sisters (not too loud for her dismay since Sirius's mother would most definitely make herself be heard if that was the case) when Kingsley came in, having just changed places with Emmeline at the Department of Mysteries and he was closely followed by Hestia and Dedalus; one by one the members began to arrive, enlightening even more the house's mood.

With a glass filled with Pumpkin Fizz in his hand, Remus watched Tonks, who had again a midnight black hair with some orange tufts, going a few inches down her shoulders and ice blue eyes, for she had thought that orange eyes looked far too much odd, casually attired in a black The Weird Sisters' T-shirt and artistically ripped trousers whilst he was simply clad in worn black robes. She and her Auror colleague, Shacklebolt, were now deeply engaged on some chat about until when Fudge would be able to sell the image that nothing darker was happening, but they figured that while Voldemort remained in the shadows, he would be free to keep the wizarding community in the dark.

Over his plate of chicken and ham pie, he had discussed with Molly the latest acquisition of the dragon's colony, he even listened whilst she complained about Harry still proceeding with the defence group, although it seemed that she had believed that her son was no longer participating and while they were not completely sure of whom was in the group, he did not have a doubt in his mind that Ron was one of them.

All the while, Remus continued to answer to Tonks's glances with smiles, ones that were becoming like a grimace every time he had to put up a new one. Then he moved his attention to Sirius, Eliphias and Bill beside him, arguing over how the goblins of Gringotts had been acting lately after these few months since the discovery of the Dark Lord's arise. Unfortunately, they seemed to still be refusing to take any bigger part and remain nearly oblivious to the war around them. He watched as Sirius's eye focused and unfocused during the conversation, pretty much like his own. Eventually, a louder line in a song would bring him back from the images of two happy faces that he would never ever see again. Remus was tired, simply tired of pretending to be fine.

Everything was perfect for a Hallowe'en night, the decoration, the food and the music Tonks had so hard trying to get it all right. There was only one problem, him. Remus stood up and left the room as quietly as one could, walking his way out like a ghost and out of everyone's notice. He found solace in the library, a room he was sure that no one would come to take him from where he needed to go the most.

He could not anymore. He had been pretending all day and he just needed... to grief. Grief for a while, his soul needed it, he felt as though he owed it to his friends after all they had risked so much for him and he would not even spare the day of the anniversary of their deaths to think about him? Remus sat on the couch, casting a Silencing Charm to allow himself privacy enough.

James and Lily. Why was it too easy to see their faces in his head? Why were they just too vivid looking back at him? Memories started hushing through his mind too fast and only lingering enough for a sentence or two of dialogue. Firstly the one he would never forget the one he would always keep in a special place in his heart: the Marauders telling him that there was absolutely not a problem with him being a werewolf for he was their friend and as long as he continued to be their friend, they would stand by him and do whatever they could to help him. Then the three of them finally being able to successfully become Animagi followed by them all proudly entering the original Order of the Phoenix and even though he did not really want to remember, James came terrified to him and Sirius about Lily's safety when she became pregnant and finally, his friend's joyful face when Harry was born.

He was happy, they were happy. James had just started his family, he had a little boy, who needed him and Lily desperately and Peter had ― Remus let his head fall to his head. How did he do it? How did he have the guts to simply hand them to Voldemort? ...How? After both of them proving over and over that they were good people, that they had nothing but everyone's, including Peter's, well-being at heart. James would have given his life for Peter's at any time and yet... He knew that if he had come to be face to face with Voldemort, with the Dark Lord threatening to kill him if he did not say where his friends were, he knew he simply would not have the courage to hand them over, he would have died without a second thought.

And Sirius. He had not even started on him. His fingers grabbed tufts of hairs and seemed to be about to pull them out. He was the reason Sirius had spent twelve years inside the worst place on Earth, paying for a crime he did not commit and being deprived of every happy thought, every happy memory, leaving him with naught but the obsession of killing the real responsible for the felony he was accused of.

"Remus, are you ― ?" he heard that cheerful voice and quickly raised his head, looking at her for a second before returning his gaze towards the floor. "Do I have to put a Cheering Charm on you?"

He tried to force a chuckle, a grin or a simple smile, even if it was a fake one, but his lips seemed unable to curl upwards.

The Auror walked over and sat on the couch, but still somewhat far from him.

"Tonks, I ―" He stopped himself, swallowing the lump within his throat. "Sorry, but I really rather stay by myself now."

It hit her like a bowl of ice, for a moment she felt as though she had gone numb. The coldness and truth in his voice were undeniable and she flinched. Tonks stood up and started to walk towards the door, but before she reached it, she changed her mind. The sole reason for him to want her out was to feel sorry for himself whilst grieving for his late best friends and what good could come out of it? It would bring neither James nor Lily back; nothing could do that. If he wanted to honour their memories, he could do it with her there. She could leave, of course she could, but she was determined to not let him brood. Tonks turned on her heels and walked back to where he was.

"No," she let herself fall upon the back of the couch, getting more comfortable, "I rather stay with you."

Remus shook his head. She had no idea how it felt to... absolutely no idea, otherwise she would most definitely let him be, but she was just being clingy.

"Please, I..." he asked with a choking voice. Merlin, how annoying she could be! This was not an impasse; he would have some more moments on his own. "Just give me a little while and I'll be back, I promise."

"If it's just a little while you won't mind me being here, will you?"

Actually, he would. Was it so hard to understand that he wanted to be alone? Was it so hard to respect one's privacy? Despite the anger building up inside him for that girl sitting beside him, he was still trying to find a nice way to ask her to leave him when he lifted up his head to really look at her for the first time since she entered the room.

Broken. It was the only word Tonks could find to define how Remus was at that moment. By the silver moonlight of a waxing moon, she perceived that his eyes seemed to carry all the hurt in the world and it was as though he had aged another decade. It was crystal clear for anyone who met him that he was not the most cheerful sod, but she did not have a clue that he was just this damaged.

"Look," she moved a bit closer to him, "spill it out."

Remus shook his head.

"Tonks, I ―"

"Just do it," she insisted. "You'll feel better. I promise." Even if it was the last thing she did, she would find a way to make him feel slightly better. After everything he had done for her, she owned him that.

His gaze fell upon his shoes, his shoulders relaxed and he exhaled heavily allowing grief to take over. He really needed something to make him feel better.

"I will never see them again," he said aloud the sad realisation. "They did so much for me ― They didn't deserve to... They had Harry. And I'd ― I would give _anything_ to have them here... here with us. And Sirius ― it's my fault." He clenched his teeth, swallowing hard once again.

"_How_ is it your fault, Remus?" questioned Tonks unbelievingly.

Well, it was obvious, was it not?

"I... I was all he had left" he sharpened a breath "and I let him root there. He became an illegal Animagus for me and I didn't even give him a chance to explain. I just assumed he had betrayed James ― And James! How could Sirius have _ever_ betrayed James? But everyone said it was true and what did I do? _I believed them!_ I'm the worst friend someone could have. You shou ―"

Tonks started shaking her head fiercely and slid closer to him.

"Stop," she counselled, pulling his head to her shoulder. "Stop! It's not your fault, Remus. You're not the one to blame."

Remus shook his head lightly, taking her hands from his neck and back and placing them on her lap with a smile that seemed almost ironic to her. He stood up and walked a couple of steps away from her, rubbing his hand behind his neck. Tonks got up, but remained still when he re-started to talk.

"And the second time, had I at least remembered the potion, he could ―"

She had walked over him and stopped right in front of him, searching for the eyes that refused to meet hers.

"Don't." It was not a request this second time, it was clearly an order. "If you want to blame someone you go for Pettigrew and even..." she inhaled deeply, touching his chin, but he still did not look at her, "Voldemort," she let out her breath right when he met her eyes and she sucked in another one, "but this wasn't your fault."

Remus would never have missed it, the first she had ever said the Dark Lord's name and it was because of him, in order to make him feel better as though showing just how foul he was for doing what had done with Remus's best friends so, when her arms wrapped around his neck, sudden moisture prickled in his eyes. He could almost feel a barricade falling down as he allowed himself to show to her the vulnerable side of him, but oddly enough he did not regret, he welcomed the tiny solace she was offering him and settled his arms around her waist, also embracing her and inspiring her to hold him tighter in the first real hug he could remember in an awfully long time.

Long ago he had taught himself to not only give up, but to stay away from almost all physical contact; so at that time, the feeling of her soft body pressed securely against his was utterly disarming even for him. He could literally count in the fingers of his hands the very few who had had the bravery to embrace him with true care and they were all gone, all but one, or rather, for what she had just proven, two. There he was, one more time, being held as though he was a completely normal human being. He fought to keep the tears within the confines of his eyes, but it proved to be trickier than he thought and so, a single one manage to escape his control.

Eventually, he felt her body slid down his. However, she did not step backwards, eyeing him deeply all the while, her arms went down his and her hands came to rest in his as gazes fell from darkened eyes to lips. Smooth, full and juicy lips. Hearts bumping frantically and breathing coming unsteadily, none daring to move for a long instant until Tonks's hands gradually left his and held his cheeks, deftly guiding his face to hers as she stood on tiptoes until her lips came to rest upon his forehead. He tried to mirror the smile that came to her face next, but he could not so he simply wiped away the tear that stained his cheek and sniffed.

"I'm here for you, all right?" she assured him and Remus nodded. "Do you wanna go back?" Her voice low, but still sounding cheerful.

Remus nodded again, not trusting himself to talk just yet and swallowing the lump in his throat for what felt like the tenth time in that night.

He inched to the corridor, closely followed by her, who shut the door closed behind them with a satisfied smile, as though she was locking all his demons inside, locking them in a place where they could no longer bother him and walking away with nothing but the man that was Remus Lupin.

"I'm sorry... for this," she asked. "Really thought it'd be good for you."

"Don't apologise," he said, looking sideways to her. "You didn't mean to."

"Yeah, but... it was foolish," she murmured, watching her feet and sighed deeply. "A bloody fiasco, that's what it is."

They climbed down a flight of stairs and in reaching the kitchen, where it seemed to be concentrated most of the ones who attended the knees up, they heard Bill's voice calling for the only other Marauder in that house, or rather, the one who seemed to have just left the house. They jogged to the door and the minute they made themselves heard by the Weasley, he looked at them in fright and soaked wet due the heavy rain.

"He's gone," admitted Bill.

"_Why?_" asked Tonks equally frightened.

"What happened?" questioned Remus, doing his best to stay calm.

"Dung..." Bill began with pleading eyes, "said it was a day to celebrate 'cause You-Know-Who was defeated fourteen years ago and Sirius stormed out, said the death of valuable Order members shouldn't be celebrated, that Dung wasn't worth a quarter of what James was and ― well, ran away."

Remus closed his eyes for a second. There was but one place where Sirius could have gone.

"Come." He reached for the hanger and offered her own coat for Tonks to take it before getting his. "I know where he is."

After donning the coats, fastening the cloaks and casting Impervius Charms upon themselves to protect them from the rain, they climbed down the steps where lots of other Order members were gathering. He was not sure why, for he was perfectly capable of convincing Sirius to come back home after a while, but it simply did not seem right to leave her behind.

"Bill, come in! Let me dry you, you'll get a cold!"

Molly's voice was the last thing they heard before Remus vanished them both into thin air.

An alley was all Tonks could perceive when she opened her eyes, gradually, however, as Remus led her to a small square, she started to recognise the place. The church, a pub, which was filled with pumpkins and bats for a Hallowe'en celebration, a post-office and quite a few lined quaint cottages.

"Been here before!" she announced rather loudly in an attempt to be heard due the bad weather and pocketing her hands to protect them like he had done.

"Have you?" asked Lupin surprised.

Tonks nodded, indicating a line of cottages to their left.

"My friend, Rachel, and all her family lives here," she informed him, "for centuries ―"

As she was gazing to her friend's house, she did not notice that Remus had stopped and she collided with his back, making him nearly fall forward.

"Sorry, sorry!" she begged. "I was ―"

"...It's all right."

He did not even look at her, his gaze had been locked with the statue of the family that had been destroyed there fourteen years before. No matter how many times he saw that sculpture, it would never be an easy reminder of the life he had before Peter's betrayal. A man with an untidy hair and glasses, a woman with long hair and a kind, pretty face, a baby boy with an equally untidy hair sitting on his mother's arms and a huge black dog, loyally lying by his owner's feet. Wait a minute...

That was when Remus realised; Sirius never had the chance to see that war memorial, between the twelve years he spent in Azkaban, trying to get to Peter, hiding around Hogwarts and now locked inside that cursed house, until now he never got a chance to see the homage the Wizarding Community had done to the Potters, or rather the one _he_ had asked Dumbledore to talk with the authorities and give permission to its construction. In hindsight, seeing Sirius so sad, he was not sure if it had been the best idea, but he had felt as though James and Lily's sacrifice should have been remembered by not only him, but by the whole Wizarding Community and such little memorial was the least he could do to honour their memories. Guess he was wrong as to where Sirius would have been after all, the graveyard was not the only place where he could find James and Lily.

"Hey, Padfoot," greeted Remus, crouching before him and Tonks stepped closer, crouching as well.

Sirius lifted up his head and crawled towards him after a moment, laying his soaking wet head upon his shoes. Remus watched him for a moment, it was crystal clear how much he was grieving the loss of his best friend and all because of ― ...It was not his fault. She had assured him. It was not his fault. Leisurely and not really knowing what or why he was doing it, he moved his head to the side, smiling at Tonks, who smiled tentatively back at him.

"We should go home, mate," observed Remus, tapping him on his ribs. "You'll get sick here."

Sirius looked from Remus to the statue as though he argued that being sick would be nothing compared to being dead as James was.

"I know," Lupin assured him, exhaling heavily and eyeing the sculpture. "I miss them too."

Sirius lay on his side, letting out a low cry and Remus patted him on the neck, getting a smile from his best friend, well, if one could say that a dog could smile anyway, but Remus had no other name to the way Sirius's lips opened, slightly curled upwards and let his tongue hang outside. James was right, he had always been; Sirius was far easier to please and better behaved as a dog.

"Come on, cuz," incited Tonks. "We'll go home and you can tell me some of your best pranks with James, what say you?"

Closing his mouth, but still with a happy countenance, Sirius put his head under her hand that hanged from her knee and Tonks scratched him lightly. She knew that soon would start snowing and she knew he must have been freezing for a good while there. He finally stood up and if it were not by their Impervius Charm, he would have left them piss wet when he shook his whole body, sending a river of water in all directions. They started to walk their way back to the deserted alley and Tonks had the strange image that if any Muggle by any chance had been sneaking on them, all they would be able to see would have been a couple, that most likely lived nearby, bringing home their lost dog and she quite liked that picture.

The three of them re-appeared in front of the Grimmauld Place and even though it was already really late at night, Sirius became a dog again the next instant, before anyone that had eventually been walking on the pavement or looking from a window, had time to recognise him. They entered and Sirius began drying himself with his wand. In entering the kitchen, they were surprised to perceive that all the members of the Order had left, excluding the Weasleys, most likely thinking that it was ruined after Sirius's arguement with Mundungus and come to think of it, they were right. Tonks got three Liquorice Wands from a talking pumpkin ("Good timing!") and distributed to them, earning the first genuine smile of the night from Remus, who knew she had chosen the sweet just because he had said it to be his favourite.

"Hey, Moony," Sirius swallowed before continuing, "d'you remember when I come up with dying Dumbledore's beard blue? I still think it to this day to be the Marauders' proudest achievement."

"So it was you?" said the headmaster, who had just entered the room. "I thought it was rather fetching, Minerva said it brought out my eyes." Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling as he put a Coakroach Cluster in his mouth.

"Err..." Sirius seemed truly alarmed. "I said I came up with it, but really... it was Prongs and Wormtail who..."

Remus turned his and Tonks's chuckles into loud laughter by muttering "He's not buying, Padfoot."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So, this is another chapter that has been planned for a good while, though, not as much as those other two, but I really, really liked the result. What about you? Did you guys like it? Please, don't be afraid to tell me what you didn't like as well. ^_^  
>Also, I wanted to thank all the ones who offered me some good luck on my exam almost two months ago because I just found out that I passed and I was just so happy that it led to a writing spree, that's why this chapter came so soon. XD I also got a new job so I know things will get complicated, but I still have almost a month before everything gets hectic and I'll update as much as possible. :D<br>Anyway, thanks one more time for all your amazing reviews, you guys are wonderful! I really mean it, thank you! And please, do leave your thoughts down there, will you?


	25. 24 Hall of the Prophecy

**A/N: **Wotcher, guys! So, today not only is Remus's birthday, but also exactly a year ago, I published the first chapter of this fic and I have to admit that I certainly would not be here if it weren't for you guys, so thank you. Thank you very much. I'm publishing the 24th chapter which is the same as publishing a chapter every couple of weeks during the whole, but I'd never be able to do this if it weren't for this last couple of months. XD Also, I could not ask for better readers and I love every single one of you, from the bottom of my heart! I love every single review you guys leave me and they always make me beam with proud all day long. XD

And if anyone that doesn't have an account here on and wants to receive the emails just leave your email down there in the box and I'll send the email for you whenever I publish a new chapter. :) Promise to erase the email as soon as I see it, don't fret! ;)

So yeah, thank you and reviewers will get a Remus to please on his birthday, if they're brave enough to face Tonks's wrath. =P

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 24: Hall Of The Prophecy<span> **

Almost as though he was back at Hogwarts. Almost. If it were not by the fact that a hippogriff had joined him instead of a stag together with a black dog and that he had transformed in his friend's late mother old room instead of the Shrieking Shack. Wolfsbane potion was the sole reason as to why he had accepted Sirius's invitation to stay at the Headquarters during the night. Buckbeak had become frightened during the transformation and he did his best to let out the least amount of pain possible, thinking of how Tonks had done it, he was fine. Once the hippogriff had realised that he was not a threat, though, he had accepted him as another occupant of his room. Having Padfoot and the Wolfsbane would not only led to a better night, but also to a faster recovery since the company would decrease considerably his need to bite and rip flash apart and therefore not hurt himself so much.

In the meantime, in a flat at the centre of London, a green-haired witch tossed her scarlet Auror robes over her head and morphed away the bags under her eyes. Another full moon night, another sleepless night... thinking of him. It was obviously not a coincidence. It had been the fifth in a row, although it had to be considered that a couple of months before she did not really had a choice, they were working on a mission and sleeping was the last thing she would think of doing then and well, she had every right to not sleep due the shock of finding out about his lycanthropy in the first one, it was only natural. However, Tonks was more than aware that she simply could not find an excuse for any of the others. She had not slept in a single full moon for the last five months and all because of him. And she wondered if she would ever be able to sleep during a full moon again, though, she did hope that that anxiety that possessed her when the moon was in its full, would soon pass taking with it the boredom that joined her concern.

Boredom that by the way suited him. Or, at least, one could say that after years without a decent job, he had learnt to not need much to entertain himself. The two weeks prior to this had been spent organising the Halloween night with Tonks, a clear exception to the ones that were to come. After a week, Remus had developed a routine; mornings were spent in the kitchen, chatting with the Weasleys and any other member of the Order that might have decided to join them, it was a great opportunity for him to be filled in on what happened in Hogwarts the year he had been absent or to get to know his old students in a much lighter environment than the classroom and the most delicate of all situations, trying to upbeat Sirius. His afternoons were spent usually studying Ministry grounds with Mad-Eye or Kingsley, though, the later less than the first for he still had his job as an Auror in the Department of Law and Enforcement. Nights, after one more dinner from Kreacher, found Remus reading in the drawing-room or being entertained by one of the residents of the Grimmauld Place. In that particularly night, or rather early morning, after a sudden call for a meeting by Dumbledore, whilst waiting for the headmaster to arrive, he had been filled in about how Moody had been replaced by Barty Crouch Jr. when a purple-haired figure, wiping a few snowflakes from her hair, showed up by the door.

"Wotcher!" she greeted entering the kitchen.

"Oh, hi, Tonks," Remus replied smiling slightly.

He still did seem very tired for her the night after a full moon.

"Hey." Bill offered her a curt nod and refrained a yawn before continuing. "We've just been talking about something that floats your boat."

"Yeah? What?"

"Mad-Eye."

"What about him?" she asked helping herself with a butterbeer on the bench and sitting by the table.

"Oh, just wondering how Crouch managed to get him," responded Bill. "I mean, the bloke seems like impossible to catch off guards."

"_No constant vigilance!_" She stood up at once, glaring at him and gathering giggles from all of them. "Yeah, but I really don't know," she commented sitting down once again and sipping on her bottle. "Have thought a lot about it, though. First, I thought there were a lot of them, but now that we know that it was really just Crouch... Well, the distraction with the bins was certainly a crucial bit. He probably attacked him from behind when Mad-Eye went to check 'em."

"Most likely," agreed Remus.

"Shh," hissed Bill, looking sideways. "Don't wanna let him hearing us saying he didn't have constant vigilance, do you?" He smiled at Tonks.

"Think he's on guard duty tonight, actually," she replied, but stopped herself.

Suddenly, all the light that came from the fireplace seemed to be extinguished, had the kitchen not been lit by its own candles, it would have been in complete darkness. Frowning and puzzled all the faces turned towards the door where a massive bloke was trying to make his way to where they were. Without a lot of progress, but enough to make himself somewhat more visible, the man lifted up his head and they all could see his face. His hair was matted with something that seemed to be congealed blood, his skin was cut in several places, some deep and still bleeding and his left eye was considerably smaller than it should be. He limped carefully until he had entered the kitchen and they could see his lips curling slightly upwards beneath his untidy an flecked with some sort of greenish blood, beard.

"Hagrid!" yelped Tonks getting up and starting to open a big smile, although she tried not to let her concern out, her smile began to vanish when she perceived his wounds.

"Hiya, girl." He smiled wider.

She moved closer to him, circumventing lots of the mismatched chairs and all the other members approached as well. She shook his hand grinning and he tapped her back, pushing her forward and nearly making her fall.

"What happened to you?"

"Oh, it's nuthin'." Hagrid shook his head, gesturing for her to let it go. "It's nuthin'. Professor Lupin!" He shook the hand Remus offered him. "How yeh duin'?"

"Not bad, Professor Hagrid," he grinned.

"Hello, Hagrid." Sirius nodded shortly.

"Sirius." The few bits of skin in his face there was not cut neither covered in blood or something else seemed to become pinker. "So yeh not guil', righ'? Dumbledore filled me in."

"Not indeed." Sirius's grin widened.

"Good to see you, Hagrid!" Bill smiled satisfied.

"And yeh, boy!" Hagrid shook Bill's hand enthusiastically. "How's yer brother Charlie? Bin ages since he sen' me news on Norbert..."

"He's all right," informed Bill. "Busy with some stuff for the Order there, but he's pretty good."

"I see you all have already learnt the reason to our late meeting."

Smiling, the headmaster went through the door at that instant and Tonks was reminded she had yet to ask the one question she wanted the most when she entered the Grimmauld Place number twelve, but well, the murmurs had not died yet and she saw no reason to not lean towards Remus as they both took their sits and whisper "So, how are you?" right after Dumbledore had announced the beginning of the Order's meeting.

"I am terribly sorry to get you out of what I am sure to very restful sleeps."

"Almost fine," Remus answered honestly.

"Good," she replied with a genuine smile, more than glad that he was finally able to be under the effects of the Wolfsbane Potion once again.

"However, as you all know, Hagrid is back and as he has to return to his post as a professor in two days, so we ought to use the little time we have. So, Hagrid, if you please."

Hagrid stood up from the larger chair Dumbledore had created for him and cleared his throat.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir." He nodded shortly. "Was asked by 'im to contact the giants, so I wen' to find 'em."

Remus sucked in a breath, closing his eyes for an instant. Just like he had suspected, Dumbledore had sent him after the werewolf pack, Hagrid after the giants... He just hoped, if it has not been successful already, that keeper's mission had had a better end than his mission had.

"Olympe came with me an' we set off righ' after term ended. We couldn' use much magic, so it took us abou' a month ter get ter where they are." Wide eyes were seen in almost all the faces, how could someone take so long to reach a destination? "See, we was being followed, I'm not s'posed to use magic, but around Dee-John we managed to give the berk tailin' us the slip round." He smiled proudly for a second before continuing. "After that, we chanced magic a bit and it went really smooth. Only we ran inter a couple o' mad trolls on the Polish border, I had a bit o' a disagreement with a vampire in a pub in Minsk..." he trailed off.

"We started trekking up the mountains, looking fer signs o' 'em. Had to lay off the magic 'cause they don' like wizards, see. Then we found those little moving mountains around the fire one night, biggest shadows I've ever seen. About seventy or eighty o' 'em, I reckon. We waited up 'til morning, didn' dare to sleep and the snores was unbelievable, even caused an avalanche in the morning. Once it was light, we went down ter see 'em. We found the Gurg ― no problem 'cause he was the biggest, the ugliest an' the laziest, just waitin' for the food the others were bringin' to 'im, name was Karkus. We gave 'im the present the professor gave us before, a branch o' Gubraithian fire. He didn' speak English, so 'e got a couple o' other giants to come an' translate fer 'im."

Whilst most of the Order murmured their approvals and their eyes widened in surprise, Remus could not help but to notice the slight shiver that went through Tonks's body when Hagrid mentioned the everlasting fire, but well, he could have imagined it.

"We told 'im it was from Dumbledore an' asked to speak with 'im the next day when we'd come back with another gift. An' so we did, brought 'im a goblin-made battle helmet, indestructible, really nice. We talked, bu' he didn' say much. But there were good signs: he had heard o' yeh, professor, that yeh'd argued against the killin' o' the last giants of Britain."

Dumbledore smiled slightly, nodding shortly.

"He seemed quite int'rested. Some o' the others, 'specially the ones who had English, gathered around ter listen too. We was very hopeful, promised ter come back with another present, but it all wen' wrong that night." He sighed, sipping on the goblet of water Dumbledore had conjured for him. "See, they're not made ter live together in big groups, giants, can't help 'emselves, they fight all the time: men with men, women with women, different tribes... That night, a fight broke out an' we saw the scarlet snow when the sun came up, Karkus's head was in the bottom o' the lake."

"There was a new Gurg, Golgomath. We had a funny feelin' that Golgomath wouldn't be so keen to accept us like Karkus had. He was wearing the helmet over his black hair, had some matching teeth too, massive! Even had a necklace o' bones, human-lookin' like some o' 'em. But we got the next present an' went ter talk with 'im anyway. I knew it was a no go before everything, but I had ter try. I held a great dragon roll skin up an' began ter say 'gift fer the Gurg o' giants ―' But the nex' thing I knew, I was hanging upside-down by me feet, they grabbed me, two o' his mates."

Several surprised and worried looks could be seen upon the features of most of the Order members.

"So Olympe pulled her wand an' did a fantastic spellwork, one o' the fastes' I've ever seen, marvellous!"

Hagrid nearly beamed with pride and happiness.

"Conjunctivitus Curses, right in the eye o' the ones holding me an' they dropped me. We was in trouble then, we had ter leg it an' wouldn' be able ter come back to the camp again. So we lied low in the cave fer a couple o' days, watchin' an' we saw somethin' not good. He didn' object all wizards, jus' us. Death Eaters. Macnair I recognised and some other. They was bringin' 'im gifts ev'ry day and didn' get hung upside-down."

"Olympe an' I talked an' agreed that just 'cause the Gurg seemed ter favourite You-Know-Who, it didn' mean all o' 'em would. We went ter the ones who didn' want Golgomath as a Gurg. Found 'em beaten to a pulp, hidin' out in caves roun' the gully, bu' gladly we didn' found the Death Eaters as well 'cause Golgomath musta told 'em abou' us, so they knew we were aroun'. Had ter stop her from jumpin' out at 'em, raring ter attack 'em."

Once again his lips curled upwards beneath his wild beard.

"The third night after Karkus was killed an' after searchin' abou' six or seven caves, we found three giants hidin'. One tight cave, believe me."

He nodded a few times getting some chuckles from the Order members.

"So badly hurt, they was, that they couldn' even hit us. Golgomath's lot had beaten 'em to unconsciousness woke up an' jus' crawled to the nearest shelter. Anyway, one o' 'em had a bit o' English an' translated fer the others an' they didn' seem to take it down too badly. We kep' goin', visitin' the caves, musta had six or seven convinced at one point."

More murmurs of approval were heard. Certainly due to the situation that it had occurred six or seven giants at the Order's side was not bad at all, but Hagrid shook his head sadly, putting a stop on them.

"Golgomath's lot raided the caves, killed mos' o' 'em, the ones that survived didn' want no more ter do with us after that."

Hagrid sighed deeply and sadly, looking down to the table, slightly towards the headmaster.

"We did give 'em yer message, professor. So, if someday, things get too hard with Golgomath, we hope they'll remember it, move outta the mountains an'..." he trailed off, sitting and trying to take the attention away from him.

Remus knew only too well how it felt how to feel almost as though he had disappointed Dumbledore, even though both of them did their best. Whereas Hagrid did manage to talk with some that one day might decide to fight beside them, Remus had achieved absolutely nothing. In both the missions, Death Eaters had managed to beat them to the essential groups to have as allies in a war. Why had they all thought that the Order was somewhat ahead of Voldemort and his followers?

"Yes, very well, thank you, Hagrid." The headmaster stood up and in seeing so many mournful faces, he added "The giants were indeed an important bit to our fight, it is with great sorrow that I receive these news, we cannot fail to recall that thanks to us, Voldemort does not have the most important weapon he could have this time, we all have protected it incredibly well and we must continue, we cannot falter."

He smiled warmly and gladly watched the smiles return to the faces.

"I also called you all here to inform you of the latest acts of my work colleague, Dolores Umbridge." Dumbledore continued to smile warmly under his glasses. "She has not only forbid all associations within the school three weeks ago, including the Quidditch teams, but yesterday, she did expel Harry, Fred and George from the Gryffindor's Quidditch team due to bad behaviour."

"WHAT?" enquired Sirius and Molly, the first thing that Remus and Tonks had seen them agreeing in a very long time.

"What did they do?" asked Molly.

"In short, after the end of a match in which Gryffindor won, there were some verbal aggressions to family members and they decided to take the disagreement to another plateau."

Whereas Sirius beamed with pride, Molly seemed divided between being happy for her boys standing up to their family and angry for them to have entered a fight.

"Now, some of you may argue that this is not something the Order should hear about for it remained within Hogwarts, however, I do believe it to be a certain demeanour that the Ministry will be taking; if it has not begun yet, that is."

Some murmurs of agreement were heard for they were sure that at any given chance, Fudge would send away whoever demonstrated an unsuitable conduct.

"Therefore, I must advise you to pay strong attention to every word you say, especially within the confines of the Ministry and that includes the Hall of the Prophecy. To all of you with guard duty tasks, keep it to a minimum, will you?"

A few nods were seen, indicating that the members were fully aware of what the headmaster had asked of them.

"And now that we're at it, reports, please."

Emmeline stood up and started talking, Remus, who had been watching her, was surprised when a tiny piece of parchment was thrown in front of him by Tonks, who continued to look at Dumbledore quite innocently. The parchment had no more than five words: Saturday night. You and me? Sure he had noticed when Tonks leant over the reports she had written on the table and scribbled something, but he had thought that she was correcting something or even adding some information she had forgotten to, but it had never crossed his mind that she had chosen that moment to claim the night he supposedly had agreed to go out with her for a few drinks.

Seeing his quizzical look, Tonks rolled her eyes playfully and tilted her head towards the headmaster, who had just started organising the guard duties. Comprehension soon replaced the doubt in his features and he smiled.

"Sure," he mouthed.

One by one they stood up, telling everything that had happened during the hours that they had spent watching the corridor ninety-seven. Once they had all talked and handed the rolls of parchment to the headmaster, Dumbledore started to organise the schedule for the following week. Almost immediately Tonks's hand rose up in the air.

"Yes, Nymphadora?"

"Remus and I can have Saturday night." She smiled whilst most of them stared confused at her for being so keen to spend her Saturday night locked up in a dark room in the underground filled with millions of small spheres containing all sorts of prophecies for every witch or wizard in the Great Britain. However, she felt as though being there with Remus was a great way to spend her night.

"Saturday night for Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks then."

Both of them nodded to show their concordance with the headmaster's say.

"Anyone else has a preference for a specific day?"

"I can have Thursday night," offered Hestia.

"Partner?" questioned Dumbledore and smiled when Dedalus raised his hand. "Excellent!"

The headmaster continued to organise the guard duty schedule for the following week and finally when the clock had already hit four in the morning they all bid their good-byes with a slight hurry to return to their comfortable beds.

"Half past six, Remus," she informed him. "…Ever used the visitors' entrance?"

"No, I have not," he answered.

"Keep walking 'til you see lots of old offices and a pub near the end of the street, behind an overflowing bin there'll be a red cabin with a telephone. Go inside, take the black thing and pull the numbers in this order: six, two, four, four again and another two. After that you just follow the instruction, easy peasy." She smiled reassuring him.

"All right."

"Meet me at the fountain and I'll show you the way."

She winked before stepping forward, but the troll's leg umbrella stand somehow got a hold of her left foot and she lost her balance. Remus reached for her, but he was not close enough and she managed to recover it before he could get her.

"Wow, all right there, Tonks?" questioned Bill with a sly grin as he passed by her.

"Yeah…" she answered somewhat annoyed and rolled her eyes to the Weasley before turning to her partner one last time. "Don't forget."

"I won't," he assured her.

Sleep did seem to come faster and better to Remus after the perspective of spending his Saturday night with a certain witch with colourful hair. Yes, they would be working and occupied with something that could determine the fate of the wizarding world, but the mere thought that he would not be on his own and moreover, Tonks, a great friend, would be there with him, was enough to set a smile upon his lips.

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><p>Three days later, at precisely a quarter past six, Remus left the Headquarters, pocketing his hands to protect them from the cold of one of the first snows. He walked past the other houses in the Grimmauld Place until he found the deserted alley in which he had took the habit of disapparating and with a loud pop he had vanished into thin air and reappeared in a different, but equally empty alley. For about five minutes he walked past some rather shabby-looking offices until he found the red cabin with lots of missing glasses in the pane. He did not even bother with the footsteps he was leaving on the snow, he only pushed his worn scarf around his neck and welcomed the hoping sensation of entering a protect place from the outside cold. Recalling all the instructions Tonks had given him, he entered and dialled the numbers six, two, four, four and two one more time. Immediately after the dial whirred back into place, a female voice sounded within the cabin.<p>

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Remus Lupin, um, here to visit a friend."

After a click and a rattle, he saw a square, silver badge with Remus Lupin Visitor on it. As the cool female voice re-started to speak, he pinned it to the front of his robes, but kept it hidden under his cloak. He surely was not visiting a friend, but he would need it if some Ministry worker recognised him, it would definitely be problematic to explain if he did not have a pin.

"Visitor, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

_As if_, he could not stop himself from thinking. She had not said a word to him about it, but he doubted that if he indeed handed his wand, that the Ministry would hand it back to him in its perfect state or if it would even be given back to him altogether.

The floor shuddered and sunk slowly into the ground, Remus watched as the pavement seemed to rise past the windows until darkness took over for a moment, a golden light started to illuminate his feet and then, as the cabin went down, all his body. He blinked a couple of times when it reached his eyes and the door swung open.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the female voice.

"Thank you," he replied walking out the cabin.

Remus looked around the Atrium, searching for the fountain and in locating it half-way down the hall, he began to walk towards it, head down whilst hoping to not be recognised by anyone that might have seen any news on the Prophet from nearly a year and a half ago when he left his position as a professor in the Hogwarts school. As he approached, he located a blonde witch who seemed extremely bored; one with artistically ripped trousers and army boots, one with her back leant on one of the centaur's leg and swirling her wand in her hands whilst looking everywhere.

Her eyes seemed to linger upon his figure for a second longer and before he could draw closer enough to greet her, she began walking away. With a slight frown he started to follow her, continuously gazing at his shoes and gripping his wand tightly, only lifting up his head here and there to make sure it was still her who was in front of him. She led him to the end of the Atrium, but instead of taking the lifts, she entered a small passageway between the last lift and the staircase. The corridor was dark and deserted when he entered it behind her, but it did not remain so for too long; soon, there was a light shining right above his chest, blinding him from the view of whoever was holding the wand. Keeping the firm grip around his wand, but not daring to draw it out afraid it would trigger some sort of unnecessary reaction, he waited until a familiar voice spoke.

"What was the first thing Remus Lupin said to me when I woke up in his house after our last mission together?"

"Err… Are you all right?"

Tonks lowered her wand, nodding and smiling.

"Right on time," she observed, continuing to walk.

"Did you wait for too long?" he asked catching up with her.

"'Bout half an hour," she informed him. "Got out a bit earlier just in case."

"I see."

They reached the end of the corridor and Tonks opened the door that led to the old staircase that was only used in case of emergencies and well, every day when Order members directed themselves to their guard duties.

"We'll climb down this one," she told him. "Never met anyone in here. Bill did one hell of a job in digging those old maps and locating this other route."

"He sure did."

They climbed down ten flights of stairs and Remus was beginning to feel his breath shorten when she announced they had arrived. They walked past another dark and deserted alley and reached a plain black door, which she opened and he stepped in. Remus found himself within an utterly black and circular room, everything within it was black, doors, floor, walls; all but the blue flames of the floating candles and the inner glow of a room that had its door being held open by Alastor Moody. Both Aurors raised their wands to their chests before Remus could think of asking a security question.

"Why did you have to come up with an excuse for me to ditch work a month and a half ago?" asked Tonks beside him.

"Because you were injured by a werewolf," growled Mad-Eye.

She nodded and both of them lowered their wands.

"Who else's there?" she questioned curiously, but her mentor did not bother with answering her for what he did next already gave her the response she wanted.

"Shacklebolt!" he barked loudly and in hearing his colleague coming, he started to limp towards the main door. "Good luck," he offered before stepping out of the room.

"Thanks!" Tonks grinned.

"Thank you." Remus nodded.

"Bye, Kings," she added in seeing him walking past her.

"See you, Tonks. Remus."

"Good-bye, Kingsley."

Tonks tilted her head towards the room and Remus entered, also lighting his wand before she let the door fall shut.

"I know you've heard the reports, but really, all we do is watch the little prophecy and patrol the room every now and then," she informed him, walking towards where they were supposed to be.

"Sounds like a good strategy."

When they finally reached the corridor ninety-seven, she pointed the number with the tip of her wand.

"Here it is. I'll walk the room and you wait here, 'kay?"

Remus nodded.

"Sure."

Tonks left him there and he watched her walk away with a smile. In the dead silent room, the only sound heard was her heavy boots hitting the marble floor, a rather loud sound that would have certainly made Mad-Eye Moody give her a speech on how to improve her Stealth, he was not surprised to remember that she had nearly failed Stealth and Tracking whilst in Auror Training, any Death Eater within that room would be able to tell where she was and surprise her with an attack if they so wished to. However, he gladly realised that it was not only something bad, but good as well, no Death Eater would be able to attack her without him knowing that something was not right with her and therefore he re-started to pay special attention to her footsteps. About ten or fifteen minutes later, she had made her way back to where he was and smiled happily.

"All clear."

"Good."

Remus sucked in a deep breath as Tonks slid her back downwards on a shelter that was located just across the one they needed to watch and he copied the Auror, sitting right in front of her. She started to hum a song, looking around the room and he half smiled. She always seemed to him to have a huge amount of energy in need to be spent, he could only imagine Moody trying to teach her some techniques and she standing beside him, insisting on staying later even when Moody himself was tired and wanted to go home. He had to admit, Mad-Eye was not easily impressed, he must had seen several great recruits within the Auror Office after all, anyone knew how hard it was to even enter, but to impress Moody… She was not an average girl. His mind started to wonder back to the day when he had discovered just how harsh Auror training really was; he still thought it should change. Her back and leg seemed to be chewed by some huge animal and she kept running beside him as though nothing had hit her. He really should have been able to stop that monster from doing what he did to her, a broken nose and some broken fingers somehow did not strike him as enough as the wounds of someone who was supposed to watch over for her. A broken nose that Dunlop had crashed with his forehead and the broken fingers due to the simple reason that he did not know how to punch properly and he was sudden reminded of Moddy's request.

"Err… Tonks?"

She stopped hitting her thigh with her hands and the bottom of her wand to look at him really interested.

"Yeah?" She smiled, inciting him.

"Mad-Eye, he…" Remus paused for a moment to inhale deeply and looked down to his own legs, feeling silly as he did not recall feeling for decades, but at the same time he could not picture himself asking it to anyone else. He wanted her to be the one to teach him. "He asked me to ask you to teach me how to punch."

He lifted up his gaze to meet hers, but the lights coming from the tips of her wands were not enough for him to decipher what emotion her now green eyes were hiding. And he felt afraid, afraid of her reaction, but at the same time he was not and he knew he could trust her.

"How to punch?"

He nodded shortly as she murmured "All right," half crawling, half sliding across the corridor to sit beside him.

"Wait, I'd better…" She looked at the end of the corridor as if searching to see someone, but she stood up the next minute. "Hold that thought, be back in a bit."

Remus watched her leave one more time and heard her footsteps echoing through the whole room and smiled when she came back some minutes later.

"Okay, so we don't learn a lot about fighting because of… well, obvious reasons, it's not our main skill, but the thing with punching is that you can't use just your arm like that." She exemplified by simply straitening her arm with a closed fist, pretending to punch the air and even so, it seemed to be a very weak one. "No, you have to use your body weight too." She straitened her arm again, but this time she moved her shoulder forward as well and it was clear for him that it would have been a much harder punch.

"And the footing is important too, you need to ― Okay, stand up," she ordered getting up herself and when he was standing beside her she stepped forward with her left foot, but stood in position with her left fist protecting herself whilst the right one was ready to hit someone. "See, you need to use your whole body and not just your arm." She repeated the movement, but this time, her whole torso leant forward along with her right shoulder and arm. "See, use it to help you." She did it again a couple more times before relaxing and smiling at him whilst folding her arms over her chest. "Now, do it. Lemme see."

Remus imitated the position she had assumed and punched the air, leaning forward.

"Not bad!" She uncrossed her arms, smiling she walked to stand beside him and hit his right leg lightly. "Spread your legs wider ― Yeah, like that. And you can lean more, like really use your weight."

He pretended to punch the air again and she nodded fiercely.

"Yeah, that's it! That's very good. Now, when you hit your target, you want to really punch it like ―" She opened her palm and touched her closed fist on it, in a way that all her four fingers made contact with her palm and not just part of it. "Use the biggest area, don't just hit with the side or in the diagonal."

Remus closed his fist and observed his fingers for a moment, the area would certainly increase if he held something.

"What about a rock?"

"…Punching a rock? You wanna punch a rock? That's not a clever move, Remus," she mocked.

"No." He chuckled along with her. "Punch someone holding a rock."

"Then you'd be begging to break your fingers," she explained. "They'd be crashed between your target and the rock, that's really not something you want. But if you wanna use a rock, you hit with the rock and not holding it, make it hit your enemy instead of you hitting them. That'd really hurt them."

He rubbed the back of his neck disconcerted and smiled.

"Did you do that?" she questioned after eyeing him for a second.

"Might have." He chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, I can see why you thought it'd be useful, but if you had just stopped to think a minute, you'd've realised it wasn't the best option."

"I wasn't thinking."

Tonks frowned, her smile faltering when she saw his anxious face. Remus lifted up his head gazing at the upper shelves with thousands of prophecies.

"He was taking you away and I ― I had to ―"

"Oh…"

Her face remained expressionless for a moment. Countless times she had not only Savage and Mad-Eye, but other Auror colleagues hurting themselves in order to aid or even save her, but having Remus break his own fingers just so he could go after her was no less than flattering, but then again, she was sure he would have done it for any other member of the Order. She smiled slightly, looking up at him and waiting for the moment when he finally met her gaze.

"Thanks."

Remus shook his head.

"It's nothing. We're partners, aren't we?"

He smiled was so captive that she had no choice but to mirror it.

"We are," she stated nodding.

"You'd do the same for me." For an instant he even wondered if it would not have been a bit of presumption to say out loud how she would react, but he had not a doubt in his mind that she would have done it.

"…I would."

That was the first time that they had really shared a word about what happened whilst they were with the Beta Pack, both knew what had occurred and neither wanted to, nor felt the need to talk about it, but the realisation that it was not a taboo between them, that they could really talk about what had happened had brought an indescribable relief to both of them.

Tonks was almost panting and she could not say precisely why. Disappointment seemed to fill her when he stepped away and sat. Swallowing hard, she sat across the corridor in front of him. Her mind zoomed to the Halloween night a couple of weeks before. She could not lie to herself, for the briefest of seconds she had wanted to kiss him, but what kind of person would she be if she took advantage of his vulnerable state? That was not her. She watched as he gazed around the room. Remus was not like most of the blokes she knew he was chivalrous and attentive and that was had driven her will then. But it had been one moment and nothing more, he needed comfort then and she wanted nothing more than to give it to him, but kissing him then would not have been the way and she was glad to have realised that before it was too late for now they could still be great colleagues and friends without having to deal with something so big. And judging by the way he reacted when she kissed his cheek, she did not think he would react any better if she had indeed gone through with what her body wanted to.

"Merlin, I really need to take you for those drinks, don't I?" she grinned, realising just how much he had done for her until now.

"No, you don't," he informed her, shaking his head.

"I do," she stated, "and I will. Tomorrow, you don't have anything to do, do you?"

"Tonks, I mean it, you really don't have to ―"

"Tomorrow it is then," she concluded with a short nod. "I'll go look around."

She moved to stand up, but a hand upon hers made her freeze on the spot. Remus had crouched in front of her.

"Allow me."

"…Oh, um okay."

He stood up and she watched as he stepped away from her.

"Just circle it around," she nearly shouted at him, "and check all the corridors."

Remus looked back at her whilst still walking and nodded with a small smile, something she envied for an instant since she doubted she would be able to do as he did without tripping over her own two feet. Hour upon hour they patrolled the Hall of the Prophecy, but without seeing and hearing someone, light hearted conversations and laughter filling their intervals. All in all, it was not one that neither of them would have described as their perfect night, but for some reason, that Saturday night remained, for Remus and Tonks as unforgettable.


	26. 25 Between the Two of Us

**A/N:** Wotcher, guys! Here is my special thanks to all the ones that take their time to review my story, it means so much! And please, please, would leave what you thought in the box down there? ;) And I assure you I'll post the next as soon as I can. :)

And Amelysse, your Tumblr adress was eaten by the ff . net, but I'd really rather if you left me your email, it would make everything easier for me since I don't log on Tumblr everyday and try to put it with spaces between the words like that so the site won't eat it. :)

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><p><strong><span>CHAPTER 25: Between The Two Of Us<span>**

Nymphadora Tonks was not one to take no as an answer. Especially when she thought that whoever was saying it, should not be saying it. And that was precisely the case on that evening, Remus had denied more than once her invitation to go out and have one nice night chatting and having a few drinks to thank him for saving her life and taking care of her when he surely could be doing something that interested him more than a wounded Auror.

With the tip of her wand, she touched the door of the Grimmauld Place number twelve and waited for a minute until all the magical locks had unlocked and she let herself in. She did not even bother to take her layers of clothes off for she did not plan on staying for too long. Therefore instead of putting another coat upon the hanger, she took one. A shabby-looking one, worn in several places just like her favourite clothes that looked like as though she had been living in them for years; along with the coat, she got the equally tattered scarf and headed upstairs.

Reaching the second floor, she stopped at the third door on the right, the one that had become so familiar to her, and knocked thrice before saying "Remus, it's me!"

Remus frowned inside the room, having forgotten for a moment why Tonks had suddenly came and gradually his mind remembered how unbending was her position on taking him out to a few drinks the night before.

"You ready to go?" asked Tonks with a mischievous grin the instant his head appeared in the opening of the door.

"Where?" Remus pretended not to remember, but in seeing her glare, he added immediately. "Tonks, I mean it. We don't have to ... Why don't we stay here for the night?"

Tonks rolled her eyes, entering his room without being invited and hiding the garments behind her body.

"Because you already stay here far too much," she reasoned. "You need to get out, some fresh air, you know."

"I spent the whole night out yesterday," he pointed out. "Moreover it's brass monkeys out there ―"

"Am I such a bad company?" She furrowed her brows, faking a hurt expression and rolled her eyes before he had a chance to answer her. "Quit the lame excuses, com'on!" She threw his coat and scarf on the bed and grinned. "It'll be hot inside the pub, but you'll need to warm up 'til we get there."

Remus was thrown aback for a moment. Had she really dared to assume that he would agree to go with her if she blackmailed him with his clothes? However, staring at the ragged garment, he realised he could not say no to her. Mad-Eye had been right, she had the strongest determination he had ever seen and she would not back away, he could even imagine her knocking all night long on his door still trying to convince him to come with her and that image equally pleased him greatly and annoyed him.

Tonks could see his resolution shattering when he sighed and smiled amused at her and she returned it, gladly to perceive the bright twinkle in his eyes that indicated to her that he wanted to go with her above everything, he was not simply going because she had insisted, he wanted to and that realisation brought her an indescribable joy.

"Fine."

He got the coat from the bed, still with a small, but nonetheless amused grin at her whilst putting an arm inside it and she grinned back at him. Her eyes lingering upon his lips for a longer instant, he undeniably had a beautiful smile.

"Meet me downstairs," she asked and rapidly climbed another flight of stairs, reaching her cousin's closed room and knocked. "Sirius?"

"Yeah?" came his voice from inside.

"Remus and I are going out, d'you need anything?"

"Where you going?"

She could almost see him frown through the wooden door and hesitated.

"Three Broomsticks."

"Um." The discontent was clear in his tone and in the following sentence, the coldness was as well. "No, thanks."

"'Kay," she bit her lower lip for a second. "Bye."

After a moment without hearing any answer, she started to walk away.

At the ground floor, Remus already awaited her. He had tucked his hands inside gloves, the scarf was well tight around his neck and his coat buttoned right up to the last one.

"Shall we?" he asked, showing the way with his open palm.

"Sure."

The wind was cold upon the exposed skin of their faces when he opened the door and immediately she pocketed her hands. They pulled their arms closer to their body, trying to protect themselves against the cold whilst they walked to the alley nearby. Although, they doubted that someone would be paying attention to two people outside on such cold weather, let alone hear the loud pop their apparition made, but they could not take any risks. The last thing they needed was the Ministry of Magic looking for infringers of the Statute of Secrecy in the street in which the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was located.

The Hogsmeade village was empty save for a group of wizards chatting nearby the Zonko's Joke Shop. Remus and Tonks entered the Three Broomsticks and were glad to realise that the pub was somewhat less empty; its only occupants were three young wizards sitting near the fireplace, two witches by the counter and an old guy on the table on the corner. They cheerfully welcomed the warmth of the inside and whilst they took off a layer of clothes, they did not perceive the slight grimace that appeared on Madam Rosmerta's face and her hesitation on coming to talk to them.

"So, what's gonna be?" she asked with a remarkably good fake smile as they chose a table on the centre of the pub to sit.

"A shot of Firewhisky. Um, you?" Tonks looked at Remus who gazed back at her clearly surprise for her choice.

"Just a butterbeer. Thank you," he addressed to Rosmerta before she left to fetch the drinks.

Remus continued to look at her with curiosity.

"What?" she asked with a phony innocence. "Just wanna warm up. You know there's nothing better." She winked.

"Most likely not," he agreed.

"So, tell me," she put her elbows upon the table, leaning closer to him, "since when have you been saving girls?" she grinned, watching as he vacillated.

"Um. Well, I ― I haven't done that a lot..."

"Rubbish!" She shook her head. "Bet you were quite the hero the other time around."

Remus inhaled deeply, looking down to the table and smiling slightly. A werewolf ... being a hero?

"That role doesn't really suit me."

"But why not?" she questioned as Madam Rosmerta approached with their drinks.

"Thank you," he addressed to the pub's owner wondering if he had indeed seen the falseness in her smile, but honestly, what did he expect? "I'm ... just ... Sirius is that kind of man, he's the one meant for this life, you know."

Tonks sipped on her drink, feeling her throat warming up immediately.

"Can imagine," she grinned, resting her glass upon the table. "Bragging about every time he put his life on the line, right?"

Remus nodded, bringing the bottle to his lips and swallowed the warm beer.

"James as well, until Lily threatened to hex him if he didn't stop, so he did. Not that she gave him much of a choice there," he chuckled along with her.

Tonks drank the rest of her Firewhisky and rose Remus's bottle to the counter, indicating Rosmerta to bring her a butterbeer.

"I know he doesn't seem like now," Remus let his gaze travel through the pub, "but Sirius was ... a ladies' man back then, ever since Hogwarts. He always had one girl with him, or two." He looked back at her when she thanked Rosmerta for her drink.

"Willing to share?" asked Tonks with a smirk.

Remus lowered his eyes to the table once more, feeling somewhat bashful.

"Sometimes," he lifted up his gaze to meet hers. "Not really." He drew in a breath and looking at her, he finally admitted, "Rarely."

Tonks giggled, glad that she had chosen to not sip on her butterbeer at that moment, and at the same time pleased, unsure of why she did not like the idea of Remus dating girls back then.

"Possessive of them, was he?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Didn't he fancy any of them to stay for a bit longer than a shag?" enquired Tonks with a grin.

A small smirk played on the corner of his lips whilst he shook his head lightly.

"James used to say that he fancied equally anyone who sat while peeing." He chuckled as she laughed.

Gradually, however, Tonks felt something in him change. For a moment, she stared at him as he golden eyes were lost somewhere behind her; frowning he seemed distant. All too similar from the couple of times she had seen him ― felt him so far from her despite being just across the table, when he had told her he was a lycanthrope and the day after she had kissed his cheek. She wondered if he would close himself from any further contact once more, if he would lock himself in his private world, build up his barriers and put up an extremely convincing mask in order to let whoever was with him feeling as though things were exactly as they should be.

"...Remus?"

He remained in deep thought for a while longer and she had an urge to reach out for his hand and ... and ... and what? Let him know that she was there with him? Well, that was for sure beyond stupid, she had brought him there. Assure him that it would all be all right? She did not even know what was going through his mind at that moment. If he was simply missing James and Lily once again and if that was the case, how could she tell him that everything would be all right if they were both dead? In a heartbeat, her mind went through millions of possibilities, the worst and most terrifying of all being the one in which she wondered if he did not want to be there with her anymore, maybe _she_ was the problem, maybe she had indeed pushed him over the edge on bringing him, he had said countless times that he did not want to go. Why did she have to force that situation upon him? Although, deep inside she tried to convince herself that that was a daft thought, that she had nothing to do with the way he was feeling, but as the silence grew longer, it became more and more difficult to be sure of it and find a way to lure him out of the torpor he seemed to be in for she needed him to say something, open up, just like he had done almost a week before.

Finally, he sighed and moved his eyes to his hands upon the table, utterly oblivious to the apprehensive state she was in.

"It's just that― I'm worried about him," he murmured. "Every day he's getting tired and tired of it ... Getting more ... temperamental. Whatever is in his mind is ... unforeseeable." What had happened on Halloween was the proof, he should not be kept locked up in that house, no one knew exactly what he was capable of. Remus continued to stare downwards, as if he had to choose carefully every word he would say. "I wouldn't be surprised if he acted like a berk."

Grinning, Tonks stopped mid-way on bringing the bottle to her lips.

"Berk for Sirius, right?"

She chuckled, putting the butterbeer down whilst Remus sipped on his own.

With a half-smile, he took the bottle from his mouth and gazed at her eyes for an instant and she could see concern clearly in his.

As the bottle of butterbeer became incredibly interesting to him, Tonks fought to find a way to bring him back. Perhaps apologise for having mocked even though she had not meant to, she wanted him to open up for her and it seemed as though she had just pushed him away even more.

"Probably 'risky and reckless' is a better wording," he pointed out. "Sirius is actually a very clever man."

Tonks narrowed her eyes for a brief second. It amused her how Remus could dwell for so long over his choice of words, she was sure she would never have the patience to do so.

"See, we're best friends, I've known him for _years_." Remus seemed more excited about his say, but it was almost as though he barely acknowledged her. "Even after twelve years … He hasn't changed _at all_. Sometimes I wonder if― It's like he's stopped in time. He's not … He's jealous of me, of you, of the whole Order. He doesn't want to, but it's just who he is."

She frowned. She did not know much about Remus's life, but as far as she knew, he was not doing anything apart from the Order and that meant only a few shifts a week watching the Prophecy at the Ministry. Sure she did not think of her life as boring, but it had not been the most exciting one either. Her beloved work had not been the same for months, the only real mission she had received from the Order had failed because of her and she barely had time for her friends. It did not seem to have a reason for Sirius to be jealous of either of them.

"Mind you, we're getting just the things he wants," he began, but paused for another long moment in order to cull the best way of saying it. "I trust you remember him from before, don't you? So, add this to your image: disowned heir of a wealth, traditional family, member of the Order of the Phoenix, risking his life at any chance and new scars every week, keen to tell another war story. Not to mention the women..."

It appeared that he had at last realised her presence before him and looked at her; by the way his cheeks had reddened slightly, Tonks realised that to be the reason for him to have finally looked at her properly.

"Gagging for it?" she offered, taking the opportunity to try and show him that she was indeed there, even if it was by saying a simple euphemism for a sexual activity. "Doing the business _all_ night. Cockteasers, I bet."

"Not quite the wording I'd have used for a lady's ear," his lips curled upwards in a small smile, "but yes, that is the idea."

Lady? Tonks could barely believe what she had just heard. When was the last time someone had called her a lady? Well, Mad-Eye was forever calling her a young lady, but she did not suppose it counted and neither did her professors at Hogwarts. Just like Remus had done, though, a bloke referring to her as a real lady. In fact, she could not recall, probably had never really happened. Inside the Auror office, they simple refer at one another by their surnames, no one there had ever really called her a lady. It had certainly caught her by surprise and she nearly missed the continuity of his say.

"Apart from … that last part, I'd say we've got it all," he reaffirmed. "We're both receiving missions, assignments, putting our lives at risk, coming back wounded, ostracised by society one way or another…"

Whereas his mind was sure that being the daughter of a Black in exile was nothing compared to being a werewolf in the world they lived in, hers wondered how cultured he must have been to be aware of the things Metamorphmagi had to go through every once in a while. Her first impulse was to make a comment on how she understood, she realised she did not want to talk about it, not when he was so open before her; she wanted him to let her know everything that was going through his mind then.

"And he forces himself to close his eyes and not see it everyday. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to leave him by himself … But then again Sirius is not the best bloke to be bored."

Biting her lip, she furrowed her brows. Talking about her cousin was not exactly what she had in mind when she first invited him to have a few drinks. However, now that they had gone down that road, she could not wish for anything else. Somehow, the way Remus had opened up for her was addictive and she did not want it to end any time soon.

"Yeah, but, Remus? Look..." She got a hold of her bottle, analysing it for an instant and wondering if she should really say what she had in mind, but seeing the obvious flaw in his supposition, she could not let it pass and she looked up to him. "Si―"

"Padfoot," he corrected her smiling.

"Right … Sorry."

She shook her head. How could she have forgotten that they were not at the Headquarters anymore? Whatever they said there could have been heard by someone and reported directly to Voldemort. And suddenly, it was all too clear for her, why he had taken such long moments between sentences, why he had thought so deeply on how he was going to speak his mind. One step ahead of her, he always seemed to be. Although, she doubted the secrecy was the sole responsible for it, the way Remus seemed so lost in thought indicated that there was much more behind and she found herself keen to unravel his mysteries.

"He was in Azkaban for twelve years, right? And he learnt to occupy himself. _Had to._ And he did incredibly well. Everyone always said how it did not affect him the way it affected the others. And he has us, Remus. We won't let him get bored. He's got all of us to entertain him," she reminded him.

Remus took his time to drink the last gulp of his butterbeer and sighed. Tonks took the opportunity to order Rosmerta a refill for both their drinks and watched him chew his bottom lip in a way that made her want to look at him for the whole eternity; for some reason, that simple action made him look very, very well.

"That would only shut him up, force him to stay quiet in his domestic prison," he brought forth. "I am sure that you understand this more than the average person, you and he are alike in many ways, personality-wise being the most prominent for me. He's not that kind of man. He needs to fight. He needs to be in the frontline." He ran his hand over his face. "Furthermore, there's Severus, reminding him of it every chance he's got." Remus sighed once again. "Don't let him know I told you all this, please. Do keep it between the two of us, will you?"

Tonks swallowed hard, nodding. She had never spared a deeper thought on how Sirius was indeed feeling locked up in the house he despised the most. She had never considered comparing how he had felt and acted back in the First War with how he was now. Thanks to Remus, it was clear for her now that it was simply a matter of time to when her cousin would do something dangerous and impulsive as Remus had put. And even though, she wanted to see Sirius free from that prison, she did not wish to see him setting himself free whenever the urge to leave became stronger than his sense of need to stay. She needed to do something, anything that could help him see that it was a transitory state, that they would catch Pettigrew sooner or later and he would finally be free.

"But it's temporary, right?" she noted once Rosmerta had left their drinks upon their table and taken the empty bottles. "If we could only make him see…"

"It certainly is temporary," he agreed. "We simply lack the knowledge of until when it will remain so. It could easily last for years since it does not seem likely for Pettigrew to show himself or–" He lowered his voice to pronounce the following word. "Voldemort to come out of the shadows any time soon."

Tonks sighed. He was right. Again. If everything went accordingly the Dark Lord's plans, he would only leave once it was safe, with a fallen Ministry and having the Wizarding Community in his hands, Pettigrew would definitely follow the same path. But of course not everything would go the way Voldemort wanted them to, the Order existed with the prime mission of not allowing that to happen. They had to find a way to get them before. Well, of course she had no hope of getting the Dark Lord himself; Pettigrew, however…

"What if" she began smiling, unable to contain all the excitement that started to fill her, "we managed to arrest Pettigrew?"

Remus's lips curled in what seemed to her to be an incredulous smile.

"And how do you propose that we do that, exactly?"

"Plant ourselves outside the Malf – their headquarters," Tonks shrugged, "wait till he leaves and when he does, you help me do my job." She grinned, pulling her Auror badge from her inner robes and putting it back.

"Tonks, that's barking!" he exclaimed. "We'd need–"

"Great disguises, yeah. Think we can manage it, though. Must be somewhere around the house we can hide."

Remus could barely believe what she was suggesting. That was most likely the riskiest mission a member of the Order of the Phoenix could be assigned with and she was simply asking if he would like to go along with her.

"But we don't have enough free time to be there!" he argued. "He could easily leave whilst we were not there."

"We'll use all time we have then," she replied. "And hope for the best."

He sucked in a breath to question her if she really thought that it was worth the risk, but let it out when he was reminded that they would be doing it for Sirius. His best friend that had risked so much for him when they were younger, he owned him that, it was more than worth the risk. Of course Sirius was far from being a perfect man, but he was a great one nonetheless.

"Fine." He sighed, looking around the pub that had precisely the same occupants from when they first entered. "We shouldn't talk about it here, though…"

"Course," agreed Tonks, searching for her bag and getting a golden coin before leaving it upon the table. "Come on!" She stood up and started to walk towards the door.

Remus followed her closely and they donned their coats before going out the door. He was unsure of what exactly had been the effect of mixing two kinds of alcoholic drinks on her so, not wanting her to splinch herself, he took her hand and vanished both of them into thin air the next instant and reappeared inside the usual deserted alley. Upon entering the Grimmauld Place, they headed straight to the drawing-room and got as comfortable as one could be sitting upon those threadbare cushions.

"Do you know their address?" she questioned and seeing him shake his head, she added, "I'll find it at the Ministry, can't be hard."

"You can ask Arthur," he said. "If I'm not mistaken, he's been there as well and it would be safer than illegally going through Ministry files, moreover we would not need to talk with Snape."

"Great idea."

A half-smile appeared upon her lips and he could not help but to notice that he liked it, he liked that smile quite a lot.

"So, I suggest a recon mission before we really start our shifts – In fact, I think we probably could make it tonight if we –"

"Tonks," he called with a warning tone, "we're not going to stop at his house at nearly eleven just so we can go on a reconnaissance mission tonight."

"But –"

"I know," he stopped her. "I want to see him free from here as much as you do, but we must take our time. You know that perfection has only one enemy," a slight grin started to come to his lips when he saw her quizzical face, "hurriedness. We only have one chance at this, if they somehow discover that we're there, it'll be impossible to go on. We'll talk with Arthur as soon as possible, get the biggest amount of information on the area surrounding their property before actually going."

Remus smiled satisfied when he saw her exhale heavily and frustrated.

"You're right," she admitted, recalling some of her Auror missions in which the same thing had happened; she really wished she could control her temperament better, "completely right." She rubbed her hands anxiously upon her face a few times. "Ugh!"

"Calm down," advised Remus still smiling and sliding closer to her on the sofa. "It's all right."

Tonks nodded, taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down and she had managed to do so quite well, until she looked at him. The reassuring gaze he was offering her had been more effective to bring her to a serene state than anything else she had ever experienced.

"Do you want to spend the night?" he asked softly. "Plenty of empty bedrooms now; you wouldn't need to share mine."

A quiet chuckle escaped her lips and despite it, Remus continued as though he was apologising for inviting her to stay.

"It'd be easier to go talk with him and…"

"Sure," she agreed with an encouraging smile and he seemed to finally allow himself some relief.

Tonks stood up and Remus mimicked her. Her gaze fell upon the Black Family tapestry behind them and she frowned. There should have something they could do about it, the last thing Sirius needed was a reminder of his complicated family, but the Permanent Sticking Charm made any action towards taking it out impossible and she sighed sadly, closing her eyes and walking out of the room with Remus following her. They climbed a flight of stairs and stopped at the corridor.

"Take your pick," offered Remus, gesturing to the several closed doors before them.

With a slight smirk, Tonks walked to the Remus's room, but opened the door right opposite to his, waving her wand to light a candle. The room was pretty much like any other in that ancient house. An old bed on the centre, most likely made by Kreacher with an incredibly worn duvet whilst the elf chatted with his late mistress; a wardrobe that probably had not been used in decades; an armchair on the corner and tattered curtains covering a window that she did not know the last time it had been opened.

"This is choice," she stated with a grin.

"Very well," he said. "Do you need anything? Something to eat, perhaps? I haven't got a clue as to where Kreacher is, but if you want I could –"

"Thanks, Remus," she stopped him, "but I got some scoff before coming."

"Oh, um, in that case, I'll just…" He stepped back, indicating his room's door. "If you need anything else, though, let me know and I'll fetch for you."

Smiling slightly, she wondered why he was acting as the host of the house. It could not be just due to the fact that she would spend the night, could it? After all, she figured that lately she had spent more time at Grimmauld Place than at her flat, it was almost as though she used it with the mere purpose of sleeping and showering before heading to the Ministry.

"I'm really all right," she assured him.

Remus gave a couple of steps backwards, feeling, at the same time, somewhat ashamed and unwanted. What made him think that she would want him to do anything for her? The only thing he was good for her was to help her free her cousin from the prison he was in, absolutely nothing else. Well, maybe saving her life on a mission that by the way, he put her in which would make them even at the end of the day. He smiled bashfully at her, nodding.

"Thanks, though!"

He nodded once more, his heart racing as he took another step backwards and raised his right hand in farewell, but not noticing that the door was immediately behind him, he hit his elbow on the doorknob in the process and grunted in pain.

"You okay?" asked Tonks concerned and moving forward as he held his elbow.

A brand new situation for her, it was. Remus being the clumsy one and getting himself hurt whilst she went to aid him.

"Mhm." He started to massage the bruised area. "Don't you worry." He opened the door with a bit of difficulty. "It's been known to happen." He entered the room, trying to smile.

"You sure?" she questioned finding it hard to believe him. Several times she had done just what he did and none of them was free of pain. It was clear as day, however, that he did not want her beside him and she bit her lip anxiously, awaiting his answer as if it was the last hope she had to help him anyhow.

"I'm sure," he guaranteed. "Good night, Tonks." He closed the door to his room without waiting for another word from her.

"Night," she wished to the empty hallway.

The door to her new room was leisurely closed by her. What had just happened? Everything seemed to be perfect until he suddenly became uneasy. Was it possible that the Remus Lupin she knew was not completely in control of his actions? Well, of course not. That was utter rubbish. Most likely she had yet again said something that made him feel that way. She had offered to be nice to her more than once and she had declined them all. She had ruined it all once again, she should have accepted something, even if it was a tiny little thing, just so he would not think that she hated him, though she wondered how someone could actually hate him. Such a nice bloke, he was.

Remus exhaled heavily once the door was closed, a single thought occupying his mind: _What was he thinking?_

Tonks, on the other hand, smiled despite it still thinking that situation to be rather odd. It certainly had been an endearing scene to see him so disconcerted before her, but maybe she did not have to lose all hope, right? Perhaps, he had something else in his mind, who was she to assume that she knew what he was thinking of then anyway?

Both their nights, almost in opposite to the way they went to bed, was smoothly. A dreamless night that was filled with one main wish to set Sirius free and the wonderful satisfaction of doing something that could actually lead to his liberty.

Nearly too fast, morning came and the mysterious workings of her inner clock woke Tonks up. She threw the duvet aside and stood up, analysing the room. It did seem slightly different from what she remembered from the night before. All the colours were lighter due the sunbeams that entered through the pane, she was sure it did not seem so full of dust – or due the nature of that house, something worse – and it certainly seemed bigger now. She walked barefoot towards the wardrobe in order to see if there was a mirror in which she could check her appearance and choose the one she would use for that day.

Across the corridor, Remus had just closed his room's door after leaving and was stretching his robes when he heard a yelp coming from a voice he could never mistake, what seemed to be some furniture being overthrown and the distinct sound of searing wood. The accelerated speed of his heart met only the pace his mind was on, it certainly could not be anything good. Lengthening his stride, he opened the door to Tonks's room a second later.

"Ton –"

Beside a fallen bedside table, he saw the Auror on the floor, supporting herself on her elbow, half sitting, half lying on the floor and pointing her wand weakly to the burning wardrobe, she seemed to be murmuring something he could not understand. Most likely she had unwillingly set it on fire, waking up with a not so good mood could cause the spells to have a different effect of the one it would normally have. Walking towards the wardrobe, he drew out his wand.

"_Aguamenti!_"

A thin stream of water came from the wooden tip, he directed it to the fire in several different directions, but it was not affected by the water as he thought it would have; in fact, the flames seemed to increase at every instant. Remus lowered his wand somewhat, his gaze falling instinctively over his colleague nearby. The clear fear in her eyes was enough for him to nearly hear the switch in his mind click, making it all perfectly clear and he did not need to see her shaking her head next to understand precisely what was happening. He stepped forward, standing right in front of the wardrobe and the blazes were instantly gone, a shining full moon taking their place.

"_Riddikulus!_"

The silvery orb vanished in a puff smoke after he waved his wand.

Remus turned on his heels and saw Tonks now sitting and hiding her face in her hands. Merlin, how much she hated that stupid creature! If she could choose a single magical creature to disappear once and for all from the face of the Earth, she would not need to think twice, she would choose the Boggart in a heartbeat. Honestly, what kind of sick creature would become what the person fears the most? If that was not the darkest of creatures, she did not know which one would be.

"Hey," he called, crouching near her.

The sight of that girl nearly pulling off tufts of her colourful hair was making his heart sunk. She remained silent, rocking her own body.

"It's all right," he soothed her with his hoarse voice. "It's gone now."

He saw her nodding and automatically reached for her shoulder, but stopped himself before he had touched her. He was not what she wanted at that moment. Werewolves were not the kind to be soothing people, they were what made them need the soothing. Her gaze, however, lifted up to see his hand being withdrawn and she bit her lip nervously.

Next, before he had really understood what had happened, he had been thrown backwards and fell sitting on the floor, her body clutching to his as though her life depended on it. Tonks looked up to him and he was surprised to see that she was not crying and he was instantly reminded by her mentor telling him that he had never seen Tonks crying, not even close to it.

"Just a Boggart," he hesitated, placing one hand on the small of her back and the other upon her head. "Just a stupid Boggart."

Tonks nodded against his chest and he tried not to relish on the fact that he could indeed bring her something good, even if it was a hug after failing to defeat a Boggart.

"Godric, what must you think of me!" She let go of him, going back to sit a foot away and avoiding his gaze.

"What do you mean?" he asked softly, moving closer to her.

"I can even end a Boggart…" She locked her gaze with the wardrobe in front of her; it was not scorched on a single inch to prove that what she had just gone through had indeed happened.

"It's your biggest fear, Tonks," Remus pointed out.

"It's stupid," she stated. "And even after all those years I still can't –" She stopped herself, sighing and looking to the wooden floor beneath her bare feet.

"You're not the first one to have problems with Boggarts. Once you have the amusing image of it, all you ne –"

"**Then tell me, Remus!**" she stormed, finally meeting his eyes. "_Tell me!_ How can a wall of fire before you, turning every tiny little thing into ashes ever be _amusing_? Huh? _Tell me!_"

It would never be amusing or funny. It was impossible.

He sucked in a breath to respond, but his reply never made it to his lips. He did not know. Every image of fire that came to him then was frightening to say the least. He stood there, trying to find an answer to her, numerous kinds of fire emerging for him, but never an amusing one. Tonks standing up beside him brought him back and he looked up at her.

"Do me a favour, will you?" She put the bedside table back in its place and pretended to be completely interested in it. "Keep it between the two of us. Last thing I need is Mad-Eye nagging because of it…"

"Sure," he stood up, "Marauder's honour." He crossed his heart twice with his fingernail.

"Thanks." Despite finding it slightly diverting, she did not smile.

"Come on." He let the tips of his fingers brush her shoulder. "Let me cook you some breakfast."

Tonks turned around incredibly surprised, she would never expect for him to offer her food at that moment, but the smile she saw on his lips and the soft gaze in his eyes made her smile back at him. Maybe, for now, she could not defeat a stupid Boggart on her own, but she had Remus and it was clear as day that he would be there whenever she needed him. After all, what are friends for?


	27. 26 Researches

**CHAPTER 26: Researches**

The crackling sound and the bright orange and red that filled the drawing-room of the Grimmauld Place number twelve would certainly be considered beautiful, warming and even soothing for most people. However, most people did not have a traumatizing event in their childhood with similar flames that would leave her uneasy if she stared at it for long enough. The flickering shadows that were result of the fire used to be near as frightening to her toddler-self as the blazes themselves, but now she could almost appreciate the spectacle they created. The unstoppable movements of the flames and its colour reminded her of the Order, as though it would not stop until the last bit of wood had disappeared completely just like they would not stop until Voldemort and his followers were all dead or behind bars in Azkaban or all the Order members had had the same fate. Relating any part of hers to fire was something she had never pictured herself doing and she was not sure where she stood about it, to know that she had something in her that was nearly as untamed, that would take control of her was definitely unsettling. Surely it was not the reason as to why she feared that element, but it did not mean that she could not be troubled by it now.

"I can stand a fireplace and some candles without a problem, you know," revealed Tonks.

Remus ― who had been sitting on the sofa behind her watching as the commonly chatting girl he knew had become quiet and despondent ― came to seat on the floor near her, but leaning his back on the wall beside the fireplace and looking at the Black Family Tapestry; he kept his right leg folded up and let his arm hang from it, trying to assume a relaxed position.

"I've noticed," he told her and waited a minute before adding, "You don't need to tell me."

By entering her room earlier that day he had not only helped her deal with that Boggart and by consequence with her biggest fear, but making her feel as though she needed to explain herself to him would be to bring the situation to a higher level and he was sure that neither of them needed it. However, he was not aware that by not explaining herself, Tonks was feeling as if he thought her phobia was foolish and for some unknown reason, she realised she would do anything to prevent that from happening, even if it included reliving those distressing memories.

"It's fine."

She broke a half-smile with some effort and slid to sit beside him, as if using Remus's body as a barrier between herself and the fireside. She mirrored his position, her left elbow brushed his right when she lifted it up to let it hung from her knee and she looked at the tapestry across the room as well.

"Dad had spent the morning visiting his family and he usually came back with a thing or two he thought I'd like. This time, he brought a little box ― Have you seen it? It's about three inches and inside there are lots of thin slivers that Muggles use to light fire."

"Um, a… phosphor? Match?"

"Yeah! That's the one."

"I've seen it, sure ― Are your grandparents Muggles?"

Her eyes turned slightly wryly at him.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, nothing." He shook his head, shrugging. "I just… didn't know."

"Yeah, they are." Tonks let her gaze fly around the room. "Just met 'em after I graduated Hogwarts, though." Seeing Remus's quizzical look, she added, "This thing," she raised her eyebrows and looked up to her blonde hair, "changed every time I saw something new. The less they knew the better, so not a chance we could let them know about my ability…"

"I see."

"Anyway, he had hung me a swing under a tree and I was there when he came back. Gave me that sliver and I ― I wasn't really interested to be honest," she chuckled, "the tree was bigger after all and much cooler than that little thing."

"Of course," he agreed with a half-smile.

"But then he said it was a special wood, lit it and blew it away. I was marvelled by it!" Her face beamed with wonder at the memory, it was soon replaced by a grimace however and she looked away from him, her eyes fixed on the tapestry once again. "He lit another and let me blew it this time and I bet we'd've stayed there until the box was empty. But then, mum called him inside."

She sighed sadly.

"He said he'd be back soon and we'd do some more, but I ― I was curious. Blimey, I was four! And I went to get the box, but of course me being me, managed to throw them all on the ground. I ― I thought he'd be proud of me, you know, if I could light it up on my own and so I did. And I watched it 'cause you see, he didn't let it last for long neither of the times so I kept watching and eventually, it burnt my fingers obviously," she half mocked of her own naivety.

"I let go off of it and there were some dead leaves on the ground, y'know, so one of them caught fire and then the others and the grass and suddenly there was this big orange thing before me that I had _no idea_ how to control. I called for him, but he didn't listen and I was scared which just powered the bloody fire so it got huge and I kept calling him and I fell, started to crawl backwards and it just ―"

Remus could feel how much it still bothered her to that day. The usual feeling of protection took over him and he could not stand. Why was him not with her then? If she was four years old, it meant that they were in their seventh year and they had already visited Andromeda once. Why couldn't he had been there to simply extinguish the fire? Or instruct her to do so when her father could not? Although, he knew that they most likely were at Hogwarts and therefore could not have been there to help Ted and Andromeda with her, he could not help but to wish vigorously that he had been there for her then.

She was not nearly as vulnerable as he had seen her after their failing mission with the werewolves, but it did not mean that she did not look exposed and he hated to see the strong Auror he knew being so dreary. He recalled when he tried to comfort her earlier, even though he had retreated his hand before he had so much as touched her, she saw it and sought for the comfort he so much wanted to give. Searching for any sign that she did not want him to, he raised his arm and gradually moved it to her behind her, placing his hand upon her shoulder and pulling her somewhat closer. He delightfully saw her eagerly accepting the small comfort he offered and buried her head between his shoulder and his neck.

It was over, it was long gone. She was not a toddler anymore and despite the fact that she still feared fire, at that moment she was safe. She was safe for she had a strong and protective arm around her. Remus was there with her, it was over. She breathed in the male, musky scent of his. It was intoxicating. As paradoxical as it seemed, she found that masculine smell to be both soothing and inciting, comforting and exciting, calming and inflaming. Only too similar to her memory and although the situation itself had indeed ended several years before, she still felt the need to force herself to relive that day at least one last time for she knew that Remus would never make her do it if she did not want to. Tonks bit her bottom lip, clearly distraught, dreading it for an instant before continued.

"Remember it like it was today… Could barely see, barely breathe, I began to cough and the next thing I know I woke up in my room, coughing my lungs out and mum was trying to clear my airways, she was a healer, you see. Well, not exactly, sort of. She started the training, but quit it after a year or so, she knows quite a lot, but what she really is an Arithmancer, she can sat by table for hours upon hours doing her calculations. And dad was ― he was apologising to me… to her… trying to be of some use to help her, but…"

Remus stretched his right leg and softly gazed at her; he had not doubted her at all when she said that she recalled it vividly. He could see in her eyes all the details, both the ones she was telling him, but the ones she was keeping from him as well and he wondered if she was trying to make it easier for him or for herself. Eventually, she looked up to him.

"I couldn't sleep alone with a burning candle like I used to and I couldn't sleep in the dark either; I needed one of them. Dad took up the task in the blink of an eye. He stayed with me night after night, didn't hear him complain once. He sat there beside me, reading for me to sleep, but blaming himself, I bet." She clenched her teeth for a moment, but proceeded.

"I grew out of it, though. By the time I went to Hogwarts I could stay in a room with burning fire and manage to ignore it. Of course having to face a Boggart in Defence wasn't of any help, as you must know. The whole room caught fire and I just… my brain froze. Completely helpless. Professor Jude stepped up and I left; spent the day locked in our dorm. And well, Professor Sprout called me to her office first thing the next day, right after breakfast. I was never gladder to be a Hufflepuff, could never imagine myself having that talk with McGonagall, Flitwick, maybe, but Ravenclaws are kinda boring, aren't they? Oh, Merlin! Snape! So happy not to be a Slytherin like mum, you have _no_ idea!"

Remus made a mental note to never tell her that Ravenclaw had always been his second choice of a house, but his brows rose slightly in surprise when she mentioned his former colleague.

"He was already a professor then?"

"Yeah, since before my first year… Slughorn retired and he got the position," she explained. "Potions and all… Blimey! Potions… D'you have any idea how hard it was for me? I couldn't ignite the fire to brew a bloody potion! And of course Snape didn't make it any easier for me. Wouldn't lose a bloody chance he got to say something and I'd get nervous and clumsy and the ingredients were all over the floor and sometimes inside the bloody cauldron when was obviously not the time they were supposed to get in there… In short, I was a walking disaster in the dungeons. Thing is I had a friend who helped me, she was ― _is_ wonderful with potions, Rachel, even works at the Slug & Jiggers and so I practised brewing the bloody things out of class, I did good with the essays he assigned too, I could be a fair potion brewer when I didn't have him around so I managed to get an E on my O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s."

She smiled proudly and he felt a wave of pride hush through him, as well as feeling much less guilty about the pranks James and Sirius played on Severus whilst he did nothing to stop them, being an utter shame to all the ones who had the honour to ever put that Gryffindor prefect badge upon their robes.

"Wouldn't have made Auror training without it, so… I own her everything."

"It is then possibly a good time for me to tell you that the Marauders made him pay for it all beforehand, isn't it?" Remus's lips started to open in a grin when he looked at her.

"Perfect!" she grinned back, eyes wide cheerfully and let out a surprised yelp when she suddenly made an association. "Worse than nearly killing or turning him into a lycan? What did you do?"

"Well…" He cleared his throat. "No, that was… that was an accident, really. Though, mostly it was James and Sirius, you know ―"

"Nah, don't try to take away your part, Lupin!" she retorted. "Pretty sure you were quite the prankster back then."

"But I was not," he affirmed and she did not even bother on trying to hide the way she rolled her eyes at him. "I was a Prefect, so I couldn't really ― McGonagall would have taken my badge if I ― Look, I'm not saying that I did nothing because that would be an affront to the Marauders' memory," he grinned. "Either way, they weren't always safe pranks, you see, they were nearly mean at times, but mainly they involved a good crowd and mortification on Severus's part. The usual, you know, hexes, transfigurating him to a frog, taking his underclothes off, washing his hair ―"

"_You_ _WHAT?_" she bellowed, triggering the shouts of another woman in that house.

"THE POOR HOUSE OF MY FATHER'S, BEING DIRTIED BY HALF-BREEDS AND BLOOD TRAITORS!"

"_Drat it!_"

"…Washed his hair?" offered Remus, frowning due Mrs. Black's yells.

"_You took off his underwear?_" questioned a dumbfounded Tonks standing up and racing to shut the portrait up with Remus behind her.

"MUGGLE-BORNS AND MUDBLOODS ALIKE!"

"I did not!" he demurred promptly as they reached the hallway. "James did. Of course that resulted on over a month of detentions. He never seemed to have regretted it, though maybe ―"

Remus stopped himself as they joined forces to close the curtains, the shouts that were nearly perforating their tympani made it practically impossible to attempt any joint task. It took them another couple of minutes to finally make silence rule within the Order headquarters once again.

"As I was saying," he continued somewhat breathlessly whilst they returned to where they had come from, "Lily didn't like it, thought he was a bit conceited and was showing off because of it. Heard her complaint about him and his attitudes for countless hours during our patrols, you see. I had a clue as to what was coming, but I had to restrain myself from telling Prongs."

They found themselves before the drawing-room when a fond smile made its way to Tonks's lips as she watched him talk jauntily about his late friends.

"Most of the time I was the one to bring him as a conversation topic." He chuckled, allowing for her to enter the room before him. "Under his request, of course."

"…Of course," repeated Tonks, her eyes falling upon the tapestry yet again as they sat nearby the mantelpiece one more time. Such a shame that it all had been taken from him so drastically. James and Lily killed by the Dark Lord himself, Pettigrew followed a path worse than death and Sirius… Sirius was locked up inside the one place in the whole world that he hated the most, with every single reminder as to why he did not belong with his family, with his own flash and bone. Well, not exactly, he still had her and her mother, both blood relatives that he could count on and back when he could not, he still had a few that were not like most of them, a few that were willing to give up their social position to give him money after he had also let go of his blood laces, a few that did not give a care to their blood status and despised the so called purity and power that would come along with it. Those should have been the true Blacks and not the other way around. Biting her lip and feeling the grin that started to break her lips, she entranced at the sudden and brilliant idea that had come to her.

"Remus!" she addressed moving to stand on her feet.

It took him a minute to look at her and lisp a response. Clear as day, it was that she was not the only one that had been lost in her own thoughts. Gradually his features abandoned the sombre expression and assumed a blithe one as he directed his gaze to the utterly excited Auror pacing hurriedly around the room.

"Yes?" he replied lowly.

Tonks pointed both her hands to the tapestry in front of him, shaking them and grinning. It seemed as though she was too overwhelmed by her idea to produce any coherent word and he would not find himself surprised if she started to jump out of sheer exhilaration, he had seen that radiant look before and it was not something to be overlooked. Remus stood up and advanced to where she was, letting his professorial side took over, attempting to help her deliver the message.

"The tapestry," he acknowledged. "What about it?" he enquired softly, as if explaining to her that even if he had a way of understanding high than the average person, he could not read minds. Or maybe he could, but he rather not invade her privacy; it would always be a last resource option.

"It's ― It's bloody awful for Sirius to have to see it!"

"It certainly is," he instigated her.

"So, what if ―" She stopped to let out a frustrated sound and rubbed her hands upon her face a few times before looking at him with her characteristic determination. "We can't take it away, I know! But what if we got something else to cover it ―? Something better."

"…What exactly is in your mind?"

"Another Black Family Tapestry! Only this one would be different," she added upon seeing him open his mouth to object. "Completely different! The opposite actually, the burnt ones won't be the Sirius and mum and great uncle Alphard, they'd be all the other ones!"

Tonks was radiant looking back at him. It had indeed been a brilliant idea, but it would take a good amount of time from them, researching the names and what they had precisely done would hardly be done in one afternoon.

"And how do you propose we execute it?" he asked with interest.

"I ― Can't be so hard to find a similar tapestry, a blank one" she supposed sitting on the nearest sofa, fixed on what else they would need, "and look up the names, write them on, birth dates, death dates and everything."

Remus nodded, also concentrated. They would need a place where the most ancient wizarding genealogy could be found, Hogwarts would for certain contain the information they needed, but its library was out of their reach. Surely there was another place that held the books they needed, another library that ― He inched closer to her and offered his hand to help her stand.

"Come on," he called, "there's only one place I can think of that has all that information."

Furrowing her brows lightly, she automatically put her hand in his.

"Wh ― What ―? Where?" she enquired confused, getting on her feet.

Smiling glad that he had thought so rapidly of that bit of Sirius's inheritance, he tilted his head towards the corridor, whereupon a few feet away was the door to the Black's library, filled with the darkest books he had ever seen.

"Ah!" Comprehension crossed her face instantly and she followed him out of the drawing-room.

Inside the library, Remus welcomed blissfully the comfort that the smell of books and parchment had always brought to him. Tonks quickened to the first shelves and started immediately to ran her fingers upon the books, reading their titles and getting a hold of all the ones that might have the tiniest chance of being related to the members of the Black family that were burnt away from the original tapestry.

Remus could not help but to notice that he had been responsible for her to be so enthusiastic, or at least he was the one responsible for part of it. Had he not remembered that they could find the books they needed so close to where they were, she probably would have become frustrated without being able to do much about her brilliant idea. Although, he had to admit that sooner or later, she would have thought of it as well, he had hastened the whole process at best. He started from the opposite end of the shelf and when they met nearby the middle, then they headed to one of the study tables and he began to carefully browse through the pages.

"So," she smiled at him without having opened a single book, "before we start, we should take note from what we got, don't you think?"

"Certainly," he assured her, nodding and closing _What Makes A Pure-blood Family, A Pure-blood Family_.

Tonks materialised a blank roll of parchment, a quill and some ink with a flick of her wand. A minute later she had scribbled Alphard's name on the top of it and under it, 'gave money'.

"You can make it all sound better and beautiful, fancy even later, 'kay?"

She looked back cheekily at Remus, as though knowing that he had just thought that the original version would need a more refined version and he gazed down to her words.

"The idea is yours…" he shook his head, "you can write it the way you want."

An annoyed sigh was heard by him and he moved his eyes back to hers.

"But it'd probably be better to put it in a more sophisticated way," he admitted.

"Yeah, you can have the sophisticated bit of it."

She smiled fondly at him and he returned the smile.

"As you wish."

Three knocks were heard on the door and they both looked at it frowning. Who could have been? Excluding Kreacher, there was only another person in the house at that moment and Sirius would certainly not knock before coming in, claiming in mock affront that it was his house and he should be able to go wherever he wanted without needing to knock; surprising it was how he respected the bedrooms.

"Remus? Tonks?" called Arthur's voice. "You there?"

Lupin quickly stood up and went to open the door. The letter sent to their colleague earlier that morning as well as the decision to go to the Malfoy Manor had been nearly erased from their minds with the perspective of making a second Black Family Tapestry.

"Yes, Arthur, hello! Come on in," he offered, stepping back.

"Wotcher!" she grinned at the new visitor.

"Hello, Tonks," he greeted, moving to an armchair near the table they had been checking the books.

"I am terribly sorry, Arthur. We won't take much of your time, though, I assure you," warranted Remus.

"Oh, it's not a problem." Arthur shook his head. "Had to pay a visit to a public toilet nearby ― This case's seriously getting out of control, suspect that more people should be behind it now… Anyway, what do you need?"

"D'you happen to remember the Malfoy's address?" questioned Tonks right away.

"Um, well…"

"We just want to go there to do some minor investigations on their day-to-day movements. It's definitely not much, you can rest assured," advocated Remus. "We'd ask Severus, but between his classes, our meetings and the other meetings, he barely has time…"

"Oh, of course, of course!" He cleared his throat, his brows furrowed somewhat as he struggled to remember. "It's in, um, Wiltshire, just outside Trowbridge. Follow the main road and there'll be the entrance to the Stonehenge, first one on the right you'll see the big construction." He sighed. "Can't miss it."

Remus scratched all the instructions on a spare piece of parchment and nodded.

"Thank you very much, Arthur."

"Is that really all?"

"Yup," confirmed Tonks.

"All right. Let me know how it went," he asked.

"Will do," promised Remus.

Arthur wandered out of the room and the instant the door had closed behind him, Tonks shot him a meaningful look and stood up, raising her hands almost desperately for the parchment. As there were some of Arthur's indications that they were not precisely aware of where they were located, they could not apparate therefore they would need to use their brooms to get to the residency of the Malfoys and so they did not have a choice but to wait the night. Let alone the fact that as it was located on the countryside, they would not be able to walk and they would need to dress themselves as Muggles if they went with the sun still up. Definitely not worth it.

"As soon as it's dark," she said, getting a hold of it and breathing deeply.

"As soon as it's dark," repeated Remus.

"Broomsticks?"

"Sure," he agreed.

Tonks sat by the table they had been before, attempting to return to their second project and tried to recall what exactly she had been doing and seeing the other piece of parchment, she remembered. She rubbed her hands upon her face in an attempt to let go of the anxiety of going on a mission to try to catch Pettigrew later, but she was not completely successful and she breathed deeply twice, but she figured it would be the best she would be able to achieve.

"You know, this wou ―" His eyes went wide as if he had just been reminded of something incredibly important and he sprinted towards the door. "**Arthur!**" he called climbing down the staircase, having been more successful than her on getting his mind to return to their tapestry. "Arthur?"

At the hall, he saw the Weasley with his hand upon the doorknob and looking confused back at him.

"Remus?"

"Oh, um." He paused for a moment to regain his breath. "Forgive me, but exactly is your relation with Sirius?"

Arthur's face only became more confused as he looked at Remus the moment Tonks appeared behind him.

"My relat ―?"

"Blood-wise I mean," he added. "We ― Tonks and I are working on something for Sirius, regards to the tapestry, you see and we would greatly appreciate if you could just let us know exactly how you are related to him, the so called blood traitor in his family tree."

"Oh, yes! Yes, of course." Arthur smiled. "Come, I'll show you."

He moved to the where Tonks had been looking at Remus more confused than Arthur had been and he saw her open her mouth to ask him what it all had been about, but he gestured for her to wait. They entered the drawing-room, Tonks shooting the lots of house-elves' heads a repulsed look as the men approached the tapestry.

"There she is!" Arthur pointed to a burnt mark on a different branch, to the right and a bit far from Sirius's and Andromeda's. "Cedrella Black, my beloved mother," he announced with a small smile, "rubbed away from it for not making a respectful marriage" he jeered the last two words, "unlike her sisters and choosing the great Septimus Weasley."

Tonks could not help and smiled at the clear pride in his voice.

"Thank you very much, Arthur." Remus nodded. "Um, is there anything else you can tell us about the other, ah, burnt marks?" He smiled, but not a completely genuine smile, yet not a fake one, as if he was apologising for intruding.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, adjusting his glasses and analysing the tapestry for an instant before stepping to the side in order to check a different mark.

"Ahn, this one… It's Marius Black, if I'm not mistaken," he informed them. "My mother's cousin, disowned for being a squib. She was forever at our house; mum was the only one who accepted her after they found out. Always brought me an interesting Muggle thing, the tapewritten ―" he gazed excited at Tonks, who struggled for a second to remember what exactly he had been talking about.

"Typewriter," she corrected him.

"Yes, she gave me a shizors too, you know Muggles use it to cut and a little, yellow, rubber duck, I gave it to Molly on our three year anniversary, she asked me what it did, but I didn't know. I asked Aunt Marius, but she said she had found it, so she didn't know the function of that rubber duck. You don't happen to know, do you, Tonks? What is it for?" Arthur looked at her hopeful and grinning as if inciting her to acquire the knowledge she did not possess.

"Sorry…" She shook her head lightly seeing his grin leave his lips and took pity of him. "If it's just a rubber duck then it can be some kind of children's toy, right? Or something like it."

Arthur's eyes went wide with hope.

"Yes! Probably… Think I'll ask Hermione's parents next time I see them, they're Muggles, you see, dentis, take care of people's teeth. Odd little job, don't you think?"

"Odd indeed," agreed Remus.

"Well, I must leave you," Arthur made known. "Or is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, there isn't. Thank you."

Remus stepped forward to shake the hand Arthur had offered.

"We'll let you know if anything comes up," said Tonks coming forward to shake his hand as well.

"It was nothing."

Arthur shook his head and headed to the door, being watched by the other two Order members. Tonks sighed happily looking at the tapestry, another two names in just a few minutes. She was fully aware that their progress would not be made in that rate, Arthur had been an amazing asset to them and if he had not helped, they would not had achieved such progress, but it was a wonderful mark nevertheless.

"As I was saying, this would be a great birthday present," suggested Remus.

"Birthd ― Sirius's?" she asked and seeing him nod in response, she added "When?"

"The third of December," he answered readily. "…Didn't you know?"

Tonks shook her head.

"Spent almost my whole life without him," she explained, shrugging. "Just got him back."

Remus nodded shortly.

"Of course. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising!" replied Tonks nearly peeved. "When's your birthday? It's not gone already, is it?"

He hesitated for a moment. Was she really interested on it or was she simply asking for she thought it to be the usual thing to do once two friends who obviously do not know each other's birthday mention their common friend's? Or perhaps it was guilty for being friends with him for several months, but not knowing when was the anniversary of his birth. The roguish grin upon her lips however, reminded him that whatever the case was, there was not really a problem on telling her. As she had proven to him more than once, she was his friend after all.

"I ― The tenth of March," he replied bashfully.

"Ooh, easy to remember then!" she grinned and seeing the slightly quizzical glance, he shot her, she added, "We've got the same day. June, though."

"Ah, yes. Certainly," he agreed.

"So, we've got less than a month to finish this," she brought forth eyeing the tapestry. "More than enough, I reckon."

"We'll need to buy the tapestry, mark the names, the ― let's call them the reasons and the dates and well, the hardest: find the precise names and dates." He counted on his fingers. "Think it is… three weeks."

"All my free time will be spent here, though… Awesome!" she exclaimed satisfied and turned her attention to what they already had back at the library, which was not much. "_Accio!_"

Everything she had been using to write made their way to the drawing-room with a whizzing sound and she put down a summarised version of what Arthur had told them before resting her quill.

"Who else?"

Remus could not help a chuckle.

"Your mum, perhaps?" he offered somewhat sardonic. "You?"

Tonks let out a puff breath in mock annoyance, but smiled.

"Yeah."

She went to the desk to write her mother's name and then 'great marriage' before making two lines, connecting Andromeda to Ted Tonks, she then made another line coming from the middle of them and wrote her own name. She knew this official stuff always needed their full names and that was for Sirius, for Merlin's sake! If her big cousin did not deserve that she let go off the hatred she felt towards her name, she did not know who did. Well, maybe ―

"They're quite alike," commented Remus.

"Sorry?"

"Your mother," he tilted his head lightly to the parchment in her hands, "and Arthur's. Both are the middle children of three girls and made unfit marriages. Although, whereas his married a blood traitor, yours married a Muggle-born, but I am prepared to say that she inspired your mum," he acknowledged mild.

"Yeah," approved Tonks. "Too bad, I could've met the Weasleys before and would've been Ginny's big cousin," she grinned.

"Well, you _are_ cousins either way, even if rather distant ones," he reasoned.

She shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's not the same. Anyway, what's next?"

"Well, now I say we check the dates," he suggested, proceeding to the tapestry, "just to have a clue of when and where to look."

"Nice idea," declared Tonks standing up and following him.

They began to analyse the burnt marks, checking the dates of the births nearby in order to have an idea on to where the event of the dishonour took place.

"Mid eighteen hundreds, late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds ― Oh, no. That's Marius," he corrected himself.

"Eighteen and nineteen hundreds to begin with then?"

"I'd say so," answered Remus stepping away from the tapestry to go back to the library, where he immediately started to search at the shelves for books that could possibly held the information they needed.

He heard Tonks clearing her throat and turned around to look behind himself; she had been grinning and holding a particularly old book that had crested upon its cover the title _Pureblood Families Of The Nineteenth Century_. The grin upon her lips turned into a wonderful smirk and he could not have stopped, for the life of him, the ends of his lips to turn upwards.

"Perfect," he stated unsure of why the word seemed to have had a double meaning inside his mind.

* * *

><p>Brooms fetched from their respective homes, hours later they found themselves walking out the door, ready to face the utterly cold weather and keen to finally begin their attempt to avenge Sirius. What was left of their morning as well as their afternoon was entirely spent browsing through the ancient books of the Black library and when the sunbeams were no longer enough for them to see what was within the books, they knew it was time to stop. They left the headquarters, walked to the deserted alley and vanished, reappearing a second later just outside Trowbridge as it was on the parchment that held the instructions Arthur had given to them. Up on their brooms, they took advantage on the lack of light to follow closely the exit route and flew for a good while; their knuckles were frozen around the wood, there was ice in their fringes and Remus was sure that at any moment Tonks would start bursting out words directed to Arthur that he did not listen since he was a teenager. Finally, the entrance to the Stonehenge was spotted and they turned on the next one on the right, about a couple of miles later, the immense construction that was the Malfoy Manor was descried.<p>

"Blimey!" exclaimed and open-mouthed Tonks. "I'd have all my friends over every weekend if I lived in a place like that!" She had to shout to be heard by Remus due the loud, icy wind.

He tilted his head towards some trees and they landed there, rubbing their hands in an attempt to get them to feel something again. They took cover, warming themselves up and Remus cracked, "Reckon you wouldn't have many friends if you lived there, would you?"

"Probably not." She rolled her eyes, smiling. One could not have some ambition? "I'd be an arsehole."

Watching the immobile house for a few instants, they saw absolutely anything before she lost her will to remain standing. She cast a Warming Charm around them and cleared some of the snow to sit.

Tonks had been used to reconnaissance missions after all, she had been on quite a few of them, but for some reason they never failed to disappoint her. As much as she reminded herself that most likely they would not see anything remotely exciting, she found herself eager to see some sort of action just as soon as their arrival. A bored puff escaped her lips. They were still quite far from the mansion, even though she knew that protection spells were certainly around the house, she was sure that there was yet some room for them to get closer, but they needed a hiding place.

Luckily for them, there were more than just a few woods around the house. No doubt they were species of all kinds of rare trees that the Malfoys had found a way to make them grow in an unusual environment with the mere purpose of exhibit their absurd amount of money. Tonks gestured to a potential hiding spot and they moved to a closer, to a different group of trees.

"Can you take off all the protective spells?" asked Remus wand in hand, knowing well that she was much more qualified than he was for that kind of job.

"No." Tonks shook her head. "Not without the Ministry's approval, I could take down some, but I'd certainly need to go for some ways that'd call their attention right away. Can't risk it."

She sighed and Remus nodded. He did not have that much of hope to simply take away the protective spells of the Dark Lord's main headquarters without him, or anyone else on that matter, noticing; but he would feel bad with himself if he did not give it so much as a single chance. They stared at the majestic construction for a few seconds. The iron gates were perfectly visible from where they were, as well as the big front doors. No one would enter that house from that spots without them seeing. Tonks's brows furrowed; why would one need such tall doors for their house? They honestly seemed to be about ten feet tall, a complete waste of money even if one had more than they were able to spend. Flickering orange lights could be seen in about five rooms

"We could organise him a knees-up," hinted Tonks.

"Beg your pardon."

"Sirius. We could take the chance and have a nice knees-up for him."

Remus smiled fondly at her.

"You're quite a fan of knees-ups, aren't you?" he pointed out. "The Halloween and now… You just don't miss a chance, do you?"

"Well, I ―" she mumbled. "I just like to keep things up, y'know? Why? Aren't you? We can let it go if you really don't want, after the Halloween fiasco it's probably the best. Just thought that as it was Sunday and very few of us would be working we could make him a bit happier."

He sighed, hating to realise that she sounded almost as though she was apologising for even suggesting the festivity for him.

"No, no, I don't mind," he assured her. "It's a lovely idea. I'm sure he'll appreciate."

Tonks nodded happier, opening up a smile as they began to discuss the minor details of Sirius's party. Her face would not remain so radiant for much longer, though. Slowly, dullness started to take over her despite the excitement regards everything that she had to look for. The freezing, loud wind and the icy snow were their only companies on that night, not a single Death Eater or member of the Malfoy family had walked out or in those gates. When her watch at last hit midnight, they were forced to head back due to her early shift at the Office the following morning.

Remus bid her goodbye before going to his house to keep his broomstick. He did not wish to give his best friend any reason to suspect of neither of the things him and Tonks had been preparing for him. He was certain that once everyone had left the headquarters and the sun was up in the sky on the morning after, Sirius would go back to skulk, but it did not mean that he did not deserve a happier night, especially if said night was his birthday. With a bit of luck, their tapestry would be able to keep him from his brooding for a while longer. At nearly half past midnight, Remus was finally ready to go back to the Headquarters, but the sight of his bed not perfectly made, obliged him to stop. For the briefest second he wondered if Death Eaters had found a way to break through his protective spells, but he was quickly reminded that he had taken them all earlier when he had come to fetch him broom. And then, with a half-smile, he remembered that the last being who had slept on that bed had not been himself but the girl he had been with not an hour before. Without knowing precisely when it happened, he found himself sitting upon the bed and stretching the sheets, he laid his head upon the pillow and was pleased to perceive that after a month and a half it still held her scent, it was definitely weaker, but unmistakably hers. Gazing at the ceiling illuminated by the silver moonlight, he reminded himself that it was already far too late, the tiniest sound would be able to wake Mrs. Black and draw all the attention to himself, which he was certainly dreading. And although he had always considered himself a controlled man, accidents did happen and he was not about to take that chance, not when his best friend's happiness were on the table. Therefore, he pulled the duvet over his body and allowed that distinct, weak scent to invade his nostrils, drifting to unconsciousness with a smile upon his lips.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hi, guys! Before anything, please, I have _absolutely_ **_nothing_** against Ravenclaws or Slytherins! I even have some great friends in there, so please I really don't hate any of the Houses, that's really just how I think Tonks feels, okay? Please, don't hate me! xD  
>Amelysse, did you forget to put it or did ff . net ate it again? Anyway, don't forget to write it with a space between everything this time, 'kay?<br>Also, was it just me or this new layout is awful? God, hate it!  
>Thank you for your amazing reviews and for the Anon who remembered my birthday, thank you very much, you rock! Haha! And if you read up to here, you really are a wonderful person so why don't leave your thoughts in the box down here, hm? ;)<p> 


	28. 27 Bigotry

**CHAPTER 27: Bigotry**

That ornamental frontage was what his gaze had been fixed for the last several minutes, his mind troubled by the poor jewellery vendor that seemed to not have a choice and keep announcing his jewels to the very few that dared to walk the Diagon Alley after such snow had fallen. Remus had never pictured himself entering that place; it was exactly type of store that his kind should never ever set foot in and at that moment it was definitely something he did not wish to do, not then, not ever. There was absolutely no hope for him to enter, look around and make his purchase without receiving any hostile word for it, it was far from being a shabby store, the complete opposite of it in fact and his face had been on the Daily Prophet just a year and a half before, his name had been on it more times than he remembered, it would be a miracle if none of the vendors recognised him, especially since they were exactly the kind of people that would never let go of the fact that a werewolf had tried to teach children at Hogwarts. However, he did not seem to have a choice and he was dreading it as well as cursing himself to no end for consenting with it.

When he agreed to go for a walk at the Diagon Alley in Tonks's place to try to find a similar tapestry from the one in the Grimmauld Place, it did not cross his mind that he would need to enter the Twilfitt and Tattings. The Second-Hand Robes shop had been where he thought he would find something that could be of some use for them, he was willing to look into the Madam Malkin's even, but he had been wrong. The more he stared at that front, the more certain he became that it would hold the piece they needed for it was the precise kind of store that the families that bragged about having a tapestry would buy them and he kept cursing himself for not telling her that he was not the best person for that task, but what else could he really say? He was the unemployed werewolf after all, he had the free time she did not, the free time to go out and shop for everything they needed. He simply could not ask for her to leave the job she loved to go after a fabric that he was perfectly able of purchasing.

A skinny woman cladded in the refined black robes that were the vendors' uniform left the store and he knew it was his chance. Sighing deeply, he stood straight, closing his eyes for a long instant. Maybe there was a bit of hope, maybe he could walk in, take a good look at the ones they had to offer and if he sensed that things were about to turn to an adverse situation, he could leave and tell Tonks to go later without him. He crossed the street, walking the few steps that separated him from the front door. Remus entered and cleared his throat to announce himself to the only vendor within the shop, another woman donned in black and organising what seemed to be a few robes on a lower shelf.

"Oh, forgive me." She turned around smiling and he could see that she was very young, possibly even younger than Tonks, by the way her cheeks coloured, he figured she must have thought it to be a grave mistake to not be waiting to welcome the new customer. "How can I help you?"

"I was hoping you could show me what you have for a tapestry. I'm working with a colleague to make one to the family a friend in common, you see."

Remus had to restrain himself from sighing audibly at what seemed to be the vendor's obliviousness towards his true identity. Perhaps there really was a chance for him to leave with what he needed without a disagreement or some sort of confusion even.

"Of course!" She nodded, walking to the other end of the shop and gesturing for him to follow her. "We've received some great fabrics just this past week, very soft ones, but nothing that a Sticking Charm wouldn't fix to keep it at place," she informed him as they arrived at a place that had several different fabrics hanging from the wall. "Will you need a very large piece?"

"Ahn, no." He shook his head. "Sadly, we'll have to wipe away most of them and leave just the worthy ones, if you know what I mean…" he added, hiding the sardonic tone.

The vendor nodded empathetically and got a hold of a black fabric.

"This one sold remarkably well, we've only got a few meters left, might be enough for you."

She moved it in her hands and Remus could see that the midnight black fabric also had spots that shined as though they were stars in a dark sky, which seemed for him as simply too perfect due the tradition of the Black family of naming their children after stars and constellations. And he completely ignored the other incredibly beautiful fabrics behind the one he had in his hands at that moment. However perfect it was, he knew that it would not come cheap and even though he had gone through the humiliation of Tonks giving him gold to buy it, although she had alleged that the idea was hers and therefore she should pay for it, he was unsure that even the fifteen galleons he had with him would be enough.

"How much does it cost?" he questioned, utterly aware that the great majority of the families that had tapestries such as the one he had described would barely acknowledge the price of a fabric, but once again he did not have a choice. Nevertheless, he never heard her answer.

The seller he had seen leaving before he came in had just returned and, unlike the one who attended him, recalled him all too well from a year and a half before.

"How dare you?" were the words he heard that made him turn around alarmed, his eyes already holding an apologetic look for even entering the store and staining its incredibly impeccable renown. "Walk in here as if you were not a monster, as if you could not kill us all, as if you were _normal_…"

He let go off of the fabric and seeing the scorn gaze she was offering him back, he tried to mumble an apology, but his mouth had gone utterly dry. He did not even registered how confused the girl who had helped him was for he stood before her mouthing sorry words before he started to dove back to the door.

"I'm ― I ― I'm sorry," he murmured after he found his voice. "Di ― didn't mean to…"

"And you, _Amelia_, how do you expect to achieve something if you're letting _his kind_ enter here and even ― _Where do you think you're going?_"

Something about the tone in which she pronounced the last question, made Lupin turn around and face her, certain that she had no longer been speaking with her colleague.

"I was leaving."

"That's evident, Mr. Obvious, but you're not passing through that door!"

She gestured towards the main entrance of the Twilfitt and Tattings, but as Remus looked at her with a quizzical gaze, she continued.

"The back door is that way," she stated coldly, tilting her head to the end of the shop and to a small passageway hidden by a curtain.

Remus nodded curtly and proceeded to where she had indicated; she had not even waited for him to leave to resume her arguement with the younger vendor. He pushed the curtain aside and passed by them, exiting the shop and crossing an alley to get back to the main street.

It was all precisely the same, the street peddler on the opposite pavement was still announcing his jewelleries to whomever was passing by, the world outside had not turned upside down as his world had for a moment back there at the Twilfitt and Tattings, but had it really? Or was he perhaps taken away from his reality by that pink-haired Auror and this event had just reminded him of what his world really consisted of? This was the life he had led for the past decades. His life with Tonks and Sirius, within the Order, inside the Grimmauld Place, those were the lies. He had been living for so long inside the shell that he had nearly forgotten how it was to be out there in the real world. He had no place in trying to live a fairy tale, or maybe he did, though he was naught but the monster in it. He was a werewolf, a beast, a creature shunned by society. And he could not even blame them. He was the reason parents were scared of letting their children out at night, he could kill an entire village and not even know what he did. It was almost surprising that he was allowed to live among them at all since he was considered by wizards and witches as the worst living beings they lived with, Muggle-borns were almost high in their books compared to lycanthropes; in fact, some of them did not even had a single problem with Muggle-borns, but all of them had problems with werewolves. They patted their sneazels, embraced their crups, but werewolves? Those dark creatures should not even be allowed to walk the same path their beloved pets did. And he could not blame them. He was the scum of the Wizarding community ruled by the royalty of the pureblood families. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing else.

* * *

><p>When the sun began to shine and her clock upon the bedside table woke her up, Tonks thought she would have naught but a day of boring paperwork as it had been for the previous months. And even when, the Aurors that were higher up she and Savage had got a few cases here and there, she was reminded as to why she disliked so much to be the youngest within the Department, more and more often everyone else had something exciting to work on, but she was stuck with paperwork. However, at that day, it seemed that they were luckily the only ones available to deal with whatever emergency arrived for the Aurors.<p>

Tonks stared at the usual loud office, but the room then was empty and quiet. For a moment, she thought she had confused the days, perhaps it was Sunday and she could go home or better yet, go to the Malfoy Manor with Remus, watching the bastards during the whole day, but then it would probably meant that she had missed work on Saturday and Robbards would not be happy at all when she went to consult him. However, even on Sundays there should be someone at the Department, they were responsible for the security of the whole Wizarding community, they could not afford to have absolutely no one at the ready and so there should be at least a couple of Aurors there, but all she saw was a fly trying to get out through the fake sunny window in the middle of November.

She stopped suspicious. There was absolutely no sign of struggle or duel, except for the fact that the Department was empty, everything was in the most perfect order or rather, disorder. Quills and rolls of parchment lying unorganised upon the tables and down on the floor, dirty mugs waiting to be washed up or re-filled, several pictures of dark wizards hanging on the walls and her dear cousin, Sirius Black, being the one in most pf the photos, still wearing his Azkaban clothes and looking dangerous and skinny as ever. Tonks was about to call to see if there was someone in there when she heard footsteps and relieved, she came in, sighing, just to see Savage grinning widely at her, his green eyes twinkling and holding a roll of parchment between his hands.

"Guess who just got lucky?"

Her eyes moved from his, to the roll and back to his face. It all could mean only one thing: work on the field.

"Get away! _Really?_" she asked, gazing beatific at the parchment in his hands and getting it from him. "What do we have?"

"Suspicious behaviour at the south side of Diagon Alley. Looks like there's a bloke who's been checking out around the GalloLoanS and the Daily Prophet. Actually they messaged us, 'fraid of being robbed, I guess."

She nodded seriously, reading the official instructions they had received. If only the guy had chosen the northern side, she would have a chance to meet Remus on his way to Madam Malkin's, even though she knew that the most she would get from it would be a wave and a smile. Well, still better than nothing, anyway.

"Yeah… Probably. Who's staying here?" she questioned, knowing that they could not leave the Auror Office empty.

"Robbards," answered Savage. "You know the drill, being the boss means you have a hell more paperwork to deal with and Williamson should be arriving any second now."

"Yeah," she grinned. Being the Head of the Auror Office was something she honestly did not wish, at least not for the next decade. No extra amount of gold would be enough to take her the thrill of going to the field, especially since she was already paid more than enough for herself. She had been born for this.

Tonks rolled the parchment up, handing it back to him before closing her eyes, the familiar strained expression upon her face. If they were going out on a stakeout, she would need to blend in. Her pink hair had become brown, down to her back and curled; she grew a few inches, becoming somewhat stronger and when she finally opened her eyes to look back at him, Savage saw that her eyes were as green as his.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend? S'been a while since we played them." Grinning, he transfigured the parchment to a much smaller size and shoved it inside his pockets before looking up and seeing her nod blithe, agreeing with his suggestion.

"So I'm beautiful enough to be your girl?" she teased.

Savage rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head. Since the female Aurors were a very minor group, they were one of the very few that could actually play those parts and took advantage of it.

"Great! Com'on."

They got the lift and walked past the Atrium, where they intertwined their fingers and disapparated to the Diagon Alley, reappearing a second later in front of a junk shop filled with broken wands and lopsided brass scales until they were able to see.

Savage passed an arm around her waist and she mirrored his action, smiling pleasantly as they started to walk down the alley. It was a thin line away from an actual lover's embrace, but still a bigger demonstration of affection than lots of couples. She would feel weird under any of the other Aurors' arms, but it was easy with Savage, simple as that. After all those years, after everything they had been through, after so many life and death situations, they had simply gone past the point where one could fall for the other and the level of trust that it brought to both of them was something she had experienced with very few people. And she had broken it, she reminded herself. She had listed herself to fight against the most powerful Dark Wizard of all times and she had not said a word for him, unsure if he would believe or not in Voldemort's return and unable to risk the safety of the Order of the Phoenix for it. It did not erase the fact that it was still purely easy to pretend she liked him as more than as a friend.

She sighed, upset with herself nevertheless.

"What's wrong, love?" he enquired, representing only too well his part.

"Nothing. Think there's a café near the GalloLoanS," she whispered so he was the only one to hear her.

"Yeah," he murmured. "White's Coffee Shop's the name, if I'm not mistaken."

"Mmhmm…"

They advanced silently; searching for any unusual behaviour. Tonks looking at their left, whilst Savage checked their right as they always did, as they never needed to combine, as they worked as though they were two tuned instruments, needing no more than a note from the other to know precisely what to do.

* * *

><p>Remus felt lost, he had no idea what to do next. He had failed her. <em>Perhaps it was for the best<em>, a voice in the back of his mind said. He was not worthy of even having her in his life. Though, an instant later he realised that he had to, he had to stay in her life at least until Sirius's birthday, this was not about him or Tonks, it was about Sirius. He would deal with this for a while longer for his best friend, for the only remaining man of the ones who risked so much for him, the ones who made his life perfect, even if it was just for a decade.

He let his shoulder hit the wall still in the deserted alley, exhaling heavily; he watched as a couple of young adults chose a table on the outside of the White's Coffee Shop. He could say for sure that he had never seen the guy, tall, strong, black-haired and square-faced, a curse scar crossing his neck. However, there was something about that girl. She reminded him of someone, she seemed truthfully content to just be there, she had twinkling eyes and a captivating smile as though at that moment, she could be offered all the gold in the world to leave that table, but she would refuse without a second thought; as though she knew that that was where she belonged and he suddenly realised of whom she reminded him of. Tonks.

Remus felt himself stuck in place, without any will to leave that alley anytime soon. He watched as they ordered some hot beverages, smiling at each other, talking about the most mundane things that made both of them as happy as one could be. But he shook his head. That thought was simply silly. That girl was not Tonks, she was taller and much more… fragile. She did not strike at him as the tough Auror he knew, she was the kind of girl that would need a man for everything. The complete opposite of Tonks, she was independent, she had learnt to not need anyone, her own job had taught her that, although he suspected that she had that trait before Auror training, most likely one of the attributes as to why Mad-Eye had got her in. But Tonks too had her share of insecurities as he had learnt not long before, she had irrational fears from childhood traumas, but was there anyone that did not? Everybody had something they feared, that made them vulnerable, no one was a shell of steel, though he suspected that Mad-Eye came really close to it, but it all just made Tonks more human, more tangible. Merlin, but why was he dwelling so much on her life? That girl was not Tonks. Green eyes and brown hair? It was a hundred times easier to find Tonks with green hair and brown eyes. Still there was something…

Exhaling heavily, he stood straight, shaking his head furiously as he forced both girls to leave his thoughts. Remus went back to the main street, going to the opposite direction of them and to the Second-Hand Robes in hope that he would perhaps find something he had missed at the first time he had been inside the shop. Walking in he could not stop the foolishness of it all to take over. His hands running through the fabrics and he knew it was useless. He had done that already, he had found the perfect item and it was nowhere near him, but a few meters away, inside the store that was nothing but the opposite of the one he was in. But maybe, just maybe, he could find something they could use, something that they could transfigure to something better even if it was not what they had in mind from the beginning.

* * *

><p>Tonks blew on the surface of her tea after looking sideways across the street to a wizard that seemed to have a rather large bag containing some noisy objects, he had been looking right, left and centre, undoubtedly searching for some sort of force that would make him leave. She leant somewhat on the table smiling at Savage, warming her hands around the hot mug.<p>

"Your left," she whispered, "beside Ollivander's."

For a short instant, Savage's eyes darted to where she had indicated, but they moved back to hers and he leant on the table, his hand taking away a tuft of her hair and placing it behind her ear. She smiled tenderly and he came close to her, his lips touching her cheek for a brief second before he started to murmur in her ear, "Most likely the bloke behind you. He was just now near the Daily Prophet and looks like he's heading to the GalloLoanS."

Savage sat back on his chair, sipping on his tea. She pretended to rub her neck and looked outside the window. A young man tucked in a traveling cloak with more filled pockets than she was able to count at that moment was indeed heading to the store.

"He's going in," she stated the minute Savage glanced to his side, gesturing for her to sit beside him instead of across him and as soon as she had stood up, he got his wand out, summoning her chair. With a thankful smile, she sat as he put an arm around her shoulder and they both had a clear view of the man walking slowly through the snow.

Tonks hated this feeling of impotency that invariably would take over when she was in a situation where she was practically certain that would end up badly, but there was nothing she could indeed do without breaking the law. The man had yet to do something that allowed them to stop him; unfortunately, a law against people who crossed the street with lots of unidentified objects had yet to be created by the Ministry of Magic. They watched as a short, ginger man entered the agency before him, but suspiciously stood without an inch separating both of them.

"Come on," murmured Savage, standing up.

The two Aurors left the café, crossed the street holding hands and entered GalloLoanS. The men seemed to be exchanging meaningful looks as they came in.

"Excuse me," called Savage to the attendant. "My girlfriend and I, we wanted to get a loan to get our first flat, you see."

Tonks grinned happily and squeezed him hand before glancing sideways at the men.

"Congratulations!" the woman said, smiling affectionately. "Getting married?"

"January," answered Tonks joyfully.

"So, lemme ask you, what are your taxes? Can't you give us a good price on fifty galleons?"

"Well," she pulled lots of rolls of parchment from under the bench, "how d'you rather pay them?"

Savage and Tonks looked towards the men now approaching another attendant and starting to ask a few questions.

"What are your options?" he asked in order to keep her talking whilst they could keep an eye on them.

"The longest we've got is forty-eight months, with three galleons and fourteen sicles each month, starting six months after you've received the loan. The next one is…"

The woman kept explaining for a good while, but a sentence from the other attendant made their attention divert completely although their eyes remained locked with the rolls of parchment she had been showing them.

"Deal closed then! Sign here and here, please and I shall go get your gold."

They did not need a look, a word or any sound on that matter to be sure that the other had been as focused on the recently closed deal as they were. After the men signed where they had been shown to do so, the attendant left and entered the back door. The men started murmuring to each other and Tonks would give pretty much everything she had just to be able to hear whatever they had been planning then, but with the woman talking incessantly before them she had practically no hope to actually caught something that would let them know what the men were up to for unfortunately, they still did not have anything on them that would allow an official approach.

Some minutes later, she returned with a rather large bag that certainly contained at least a hundred galleons. Tonks felt more than she heard Savage suck in a breath in anticipation. It was obvious that if they were going to attempt something illegal would be within the next few minutes.

_Merlin, how many options can a company have for a single loan?_, Tonks cursed in her mind, but she was secretly thankful for all of them since they would keep them from coming up with some useless small talk.

On the next table, after counting the gold before handing the bag to the costumers, checking documents and getting more signatures, the attendant re-entered at the back room to get… more gold? The faintest frown appeared between her eyebrows and she could not tell the last word the woman before her had said for the life of her. She bit her bottom lip and the minute, she came back from the back door, holding another bag, Tonks and Savage could not help and lifted up their heads to the lady, causing their attendant to also look at her colleague.

"Haven't you just done that?"

The Aurors' eyes moved instantly to the two wizards beside them; the alarmed look upon their faces gave away that that had not been in their plans.

"No, I haven't."

Her colleague's answer brought a frown to her face and she stared at the bag for a moment.

"Huh. Really? 'Cause I was sure you ha ―"

"_Confundus!_" casted the second man on the other attendant.

"_Protego!_" shouted Savage standing up and stopping him from also confounding both of them.

"What are you…?"

"You can't ―"

The puzzled attendants gave the thieves the second of distraction they needed to overthrow their chairs and exit through the door, to the cold street. Tonks sprinted after them with Savage right behind her, they did not acknowledge an old man bellowing that they were the ones, the ones that had left his café without paying and needed to pay for their teas. They ran for a short while, getting closer and closer to them, which forced the burgles to enter one of the many alleys to try to foil them, but it did not work as they hoped it would have. Savage and Tonks followed them into the alley without even needing to slow down much their pace. However, they had split, which forced the Aurors to do the same, Tonks immediately went after the one that had gone left for she knew her colleague would go after the on that had gone to the right. The man was holding the bag with the gold and his breath seemed to be leaving him already. Tonks smirked, thanking every single ones of her morning runs that made her lung capacity so good.

She chased him through loads of minor alleys that she was barely aware that they existed, though her persecuted seemed to know them all too well. Several bins, old robes, abandoned crups, battered frontages clogged their way and here and there the man would take advantage of that fact and overthrow one of the items in front of her to try to make her trip. However, focused on the chase as she was, they had not been enough to take her down, her shields had been efficient to repel them all and though they prevented her to jinx him, she was still getting very closer to him. She recognised the shabby archway that indicated that they had entered the Knockturn Alley; more people were on the street, compared to the Diagon Alley, but that also meant less objects on their way and before long the thief followed her trace of thoughts, he did not have much time.

Tonks had her wand aimed perfectly to his back and was about to cast an Impedimenta Jinx when the man threw the gold bag upon her, spreading galleons and galleons all over the alley. However, instead of earning himself a few seconds to escape, the distraction made him trip and fall to his knees. Her last charmed shield had been able to block the great majority of golden coins from hitting her and she soon had her wand pointed directly to his chest. Tonks finally saw the face of the man, he had long, straggly ginger hair that framed bloodshot, baggy eyes. The smell of drink mingled with stale tobacco came to her nostrils and he tried to crawl backwards with his short, bandy legs. She knew that man, she had had that smell in her nostrils plenty of times, most of them at the kitchen of the number twelve Grimmauld Place, usually followed by a shout from Molly for the man to let go of his pipe. Mundungus Fletcher.

"Dung…" she whispered and his eyes went wide.

Of course he had no idea at all of whom she was, she looked incredibly different from most of the times they had seen each other, which was exactly her goal when she disguised herself for the stakeout. For a moment, she debated with herself what to do, people were gathering around them and could not simply let him go, the word would go to the streets and her career would be gone as well however, arresting a member of the Order of the Phoenix was out of chance. And so, she went with the only resource she had left.

Some black smoke spread itself all over the alley in a matter of seconds. She started to let out fake coughs to blend in with the rest of the civilians that watched them and she groped to where Dung had been and grabbed him, putting him on his feet.

"Go!" she ordered lowly, pushing him and she heard him starting to run to the opposite direction.

A minute later she cast a spell to reverse the silent charm she had cast earlier and kept coughing.

"Fuck!"

She looked everywhere, pretending to be upset with Mundungus's escape before gathering the few galleons that were still on the floor. It seemed as though that Dung was not the only one that had disappeared in the darkness, several galleons had as well. She collected the remaining ones on the bag in order to take them back to the Department as evidence and disapparated, reappearing back in front of the GalloLoanS and running to where Savage had gone.

"That's her!" yelped the old man. "She's the one that got away without payin ― And don't just pretend that you're not hearing me, young lady!"

Tonks ignored him completely as well as they few people that were attracted to the outside of the shops by the shouts, including a werewolf in shabby clothes coming from the Second-Hand Robes and re-did their steps, going back to the alley where Mundungus and his accomplice had entered in hope to foil them. She followed the path her partner had started to go when she had gone to the opposite direction, tying the bag of gold to her belt. Soon, she started to hear altered voices and they guided her to where Savage and the other thief were.

Seeing a crowd of people starting to gather around, she figured it was where they were and she reached the spot a few seconds later. Her partner and the thief had their wands pointed directly to each other's chests. The burglar seemed to be around fifteen, sixteen years old if that much, but the look in his eyes told her that it had not been the first time that he had had a wand upon his chest.

"Drop it, mate," asked Savage. "You're surrounded. Let's do this the easier way."

The boy let out a disdainful laugh.

"S'easier that _you_ drop it."

"Not happening," said Tonks coming from behind the crowd not far from her colleague and also pointing her wand to him.

For a moment the boy's aim vacillated from her to Savage and she took the opportunity to take him off guards.

"_Deprimo!_"

An extremely strong wind came from the tip of her wand causing several people to crouch to protect themselves, but the thief blend himself between them.

"_Impedimenta!_" shouted Savage, but he missed his target.

There was a fuss coming from the area where he had been, a few desperate shouts as the Aurors pointed their weapons to where they had come and the crowd started to slowly disperse, revealing the boy holding a woman as hostage.

"Drop 'em or ― or ― or I'll hurt her!"

Tonks and Savage did not move, except for the slight tilt of their heads towards each other to see their partner's intention and none of them seemed particularly reclined to letting go off of their wands, but they could not risk the life of an innocent woman. However, they were not about to fall for the oldest trick to ever exist for they strongly doubted that an adolescent like him would have the nerve to kill a woman, nevertheless, he would probably be able to seriously harm her and the guilt would fall upon their shoulders and no one else's. An almost imperceptible blink of Tonks's eyes told Savage what she intended to do and he exhaled heavily the next instant, hiding a curt nod before raising both of his hands, surrendering himself.

"All right."

Savage gradually bended down to put his weapon on the ground and Tonks clenched her teeth, making sure that she had his forehead precisely where she wanted and awaited the minute his eyes got distracted with her partner.

"_**Expelliarmus!**_" shouted Tonks.

The boy's frightened face when his wand went flying from his hand was exactly what she was hoping would happen, though she did also hope that the wand would come straight to her hand, but it did not happen and it landed somewhere in the middle of the crowd, most likely broken the next second since all those curious people started running in all directions at the sound of her spell. Savage who had not yet put his wand on the ground when she disarmed him stood up and ran towards him, but the thief pushed the woman that had been in his arms to him and he opted to lose a couple of seconds to make sure that the civilian was all right before following Tonks, who had just began pursuing him.

Remus had just chosen to resume his search for the perfect fabric that he had already found in a different shop when he re-started to hear sounds of chasing outside. He crossed the door once again just in time to see that same girl one more time following a teenager frantically. They had just passed a few meters from him when an amazingly well shot Stinging Jinx by her made the boy fall on the ground, rolling. A satisfied half-smile came to her lips and the ends of her hair morphed to pink, which made a smirk appear on his lips.

"Oh, I know what you are," he stated jeering. "_Heap of shit!_ Are you even a bird?"

"That's none of your business!" she hissed through clenched teeth, tightening the grip around her wand.

"Course not. It's your bloke's, right?" he mocked. "Bet it's one big sausage fest between you two. He likes to blow you, yeah? And you like it too, can see it."

Tonks could feel the anger growing within her, the blood beginning to boil inside her veins, her fingers loosening and tightening around the end of her wand as she did her best to try to control her impulse of injuring him at that instant.

"Shut up…" she advised lowly.

She had not caught a glance of her hair, but she did not need it to know that it was certainly bright orange and that by the way she was feeling, she would not be at all surprised if the colour had reached her eyes as well.

"Or what, huh? What ya gonna do? Kill me?"

He laughed sarcastically and she was not sure what would have happened the following second if she had not felt a hand around the one that had been holding her wand.

"Hey, Tonks! Tonks, come on…"

Savage tried to lift up her chin to force her to look at him and she only then realised that she had been panting with anger. Slowly then she tried to regain some control of her breathing.

"I'll take it from here."

She had just allowed herself to relax somewhat when he opened his mouth again.

"Do tell, does he give good head?"

Without so much as half of a conscious thought of what she was doing, Tonks pointed her wand directly to his nose.

"_Furnunculus!_"

"_Petrificus Totalus!_"

The thief was utterly powerless whilst boils began to appear all over his face and unable to move a single muscle.

Remus watched as Tonks swirled on her heels out of frustration for losing her head, which caused her to nearly make something worse out of the situation and the minute his eyes met hers, he realised that he knew. But then again, he knew all along. The voice inside his head had told him that it was her so why on Earth had he not listened to it? She had been acting almost the complete opposite of her true self, but that was her job for pity's sake! Judging by what he had seen, she did it remarkably well; he could then begin to see the real reasons behind Moody picking up her to be his protégée during her training. And she smiled at him. Merlin, she had indeed a wonderful smile. How could have he even doubted himself that she was Tonks? He had to remind himself to trust his instincts every once in a while. Remus offered her a small smile back and before long she was right in front of him.

"Wotcher!"

"Hello. What did he say to you?" he asked looking back at the boy.

"That? Oh, nothing. Just some stupid stuff, not worth it. Anyway, what you doing here?" she questioned with a slight frown and morphing her hair to a bright shade of purple and her eyes back to her usual dark brown.

"Just checking…" He let his eyes go to the front of the store before going back to hers.

"Oh, right…"

"Go back to your lives, everyone!" announced Savage, showing his badge. "Auror business."

"I'll go back to my life once you pay what you owe me!"

"Gotta turn this yob in," she told him. "Meet you here for lunch?"

"Sure." Remus nodded.

Savage let the thief floating, walked over to the owner of the White's Coffee Shop and took a few silver coins, letting them upon one of the tables near the old man.

"Good enough for ya?" he asked, envisaging him in the eyes for a split second before leaving without waiting for any kind of answer from him. Honestly, he should be honoured that his establishment had been of any use to get a thief out of the streets.

Tonks had got a hold of the floating burglar and rolled her eyes to support her partner, who was fuming when he approached her. They held hands for a second before vanishing into thin air and apparated right in front of the Auror Office. The room was once again filled with Aurors and the usual smell of fast food and sweat was clear in the air, even more prominent then since it was lunch time. All the faces turned directly to them as they routed to the second interrogation room behind Robbards's private office, a few claps were heard and many smiles were upon their faces. Savage only then took off the Body-Bind Curse, but not without tying his hands behind his back and then forced him to sit on the only chair in the room.

"Listen, mate," she began. "We're gonna go for a walk, grab some lunch and stop by later. In the meantime, you think about what you did and how much you'll tell us about that accomplice of yours and what you did. 'Kay?"

"I'm underage! You can hold me for too long!" the boy alleged, sounding clearly desperate.

"Ooh! Underage and doing magic?" taunted Tonks, folding her arms over her chest. "That doesn't sound pretty."

"I ― I ― I didn't do magic! I don't even have a wand! No one's gonna believe you!"

"Sorry to break it for you, mate," Savage narrowed his eyes stepping closer to him, "but this isn't how it works. The law's on our side, not yours."

He walked out the room and Tonks followed him, waving a good-bye before closing the door.

"The partner got away?" asked Savage.

"Yeah…" Tonks nodded sadly. "Threw the bag on me," she started to untie the bag from her belt, only now remembering that it had been there, "and cast some black smoke. No one saw him flee."

"Hogsmeade?"

"Not today, mate," she declined his invitation for lunch, letting the gold bag fall on the box of evidences that they kept on the office so they could work on it later. "I'm meeting a friend."

"Oh, come on! Thought we were celebrating!"

Tonks smiled apologetically at him.

"Tonight?"

Actually, she also had plans for that night, but she could not keep ditching him for stuff for the Order, she had to keep it at least somewhat so he would not grow suspicious of her and if that ever happened her work would be as good as gone. The Malfoy Manor would have to wait.

"Tonight."

They walked back to the lift and went up to the Atrium; she watched him disapparating before leaving to the same spot they had been not many minutes before.

Remus was startled by the loud pop that announced Tonks's arrival, but was glad to see her smiling.

"Come on!" She tilted her head to the side, leading the way and Remus followed her promptly. "I know this little place, Charming Café, ever been there?"

He shook his head.

"No. Is it good?"

"It's great! They've got a wonderful butty!" she grinned.

In ten minutes they had entered the Charming Café and Tonks did not spare another minute before ordering the bacon one for the both of them.

"You're not gonna regret."

But what she did not know was that Remus could be served the worst sandwich of his life within the following minutes that it would not make him regret having agreed to come with her.

"So, anything interesting?"

"Well," Remus started, but he was not entirely sure of what he should and should not tell her. It was undeniable that the Twilfitt and Tattings had the perfect fabric, but he could not go back. He could trick her to go without him, though… It would only take a small lie, telling her he had seen an old friend or relative, but then he suspected she knew that he did not have many people in his life; the only one that had not died when he was younger was now locked up in his own house. He sighed. He had to do it for Sirius, he did not have a choice. "I saw a very beautiful one at the Twilfitt and Tattings. You know, black with little sparkling spots, resembling the sky. Thought it was fitting since they named everyone after stars and ―"

"A fancy one?"

"Certainly." He nodded. "I don't remember the price now becau ―"

"No, Remus! You got it all backwards!" She shook her head fiercely. "We're trying to make him feel like he belongs somewhere cool and not with some royalty. Besides, I'm not buying anything from that stupid place, bunch of berks! Did you take a look at the cheaper ones?"

Lupin stood open-mouthed for a moment. Everything made much more sense then, of course they should not buy an exquisite fabric when their main goal was to remind Sirius that he did not belong entirely with most of his blood relatives, they wanted to take the focus away from the gold and the royalty and onto the principles the disowned Blacks had chosen to follow. How had he not seen it before?

"I, um, yes. Yes, I did," he stuttered. "Second-Hand's got some not so good ones."

"Awesome!" she grinned. "The sky idea's good, though, 'cause even mum and Sirius and all the others were named after stars and constellations."

Remus nodded with a small smile. At least his visit to the Twilfitt and Tattings was not a complete waste of time, it provided him an idea that Tonks had enjoyed and he was willing to go through the humiliation one more time if that meant that she would get good ideas from him every time.

"Does Second-Hand have any dark one?" she asked. "We can try adding the sparkles ourselves."

"It does, yes," he confirmed the minute their sandwiches arrived.

Tonks took in the smell of it before anything else and smiled. She took one bite and groaned pleasantly.

"Won'eful!" she announced and gestured for him to go on and bite it too.

Remus bit it and took his time chewing it, he cleaned the corner of his lips with a serviette before shrugging.

"Normal," he said and watched her unbelieving face before starting to laugh.

She slapped his arm somewhat stronger than what she had intended to, which only made him laugh more.

"It's amazing indeed," he confirmed with a curt nod.

Twenty minutes and two empty plates later, Remus was willing to put to good use the few coins he had to his name, but Tonks forbade him and had put her own money upon the bill and dragged him outside before he could protest.

"Listen, I'll have to call off the manor tonight," she informed him.

"Oh, all right. Not a problem."

"Savage and I are going to celebrate today's catch. Couldn't deny," she added apologetically.

Remus nodded understandingly.

"I'll buy the fabric and stay at the library," he said. "See what more names I can find."

"That'd be great!" she exclaimed. "I'll meet you there tomorrow to see what you got."

"See you tomorrow, then."

"Cheers!" She waved as Remus directed himself to the Second-Hand Robes before disapparating.

Not half an hour later, she and Savage were already back in the interrogation room number two. If Tonks had not been the one to go after Mundungus, the Order would have most likely suffered the loss of another member to Azkaban and she would not have been able to even stop for lunch, as much as they hated to admit, the boy had been right and they could not hold him for too long, he would need to be released by the end of the day otherwise the Auror Office would probably end up getting a judicial process and it was certainly the last thing either of them wanted to be attached to their careers. However, after a couple of hours, the little thief seemed to be as willing to talk as the chair he had been sat upon and they were both losing their patience far too fast since the only progress they had made was to discover his name, Daniel.

"Just tell us his name and you're free to go," promised Savage.

"Dunno his name."

"_Rubbish!_"

Up until then they had got absolutely nothing they could use against him or to move on with the investigation, that was, until his stomach howled in hunger.

Tonks touched Savage's arm, gesturing for him to back off for a bit and smiled mischievously before sitting on the table.

"You know, I just had a wonderful butty for lunch."

Daniel did not even look at her, suddenly all too busy looking at his own feet.

"Large burger, ham, bacon, cheese ― You know, cheese's like a special touch, nearly melted on the meat…"

He looked to the wall beside her, swallowing visibly and she was sure that she had been successful on making him salivate.

"Could fetch one for you if you start collaborating…"

She smiled as the boy gazed clearly hungry at her and she wondered when had been the last time he had actually eaten a decent meal. If he had not insulted her back then, she could have felt some pity for him.

"Fine! But give me it first."

"Tell us the name, I'll get it for you and then you can say the rest."

The boy exhaled heavily looking at her for a short moment.

"He told me to call him Fletcher, that's all I know about him."

At nearly three in the afternoon, the Charming Café was practically empty, save a couple of witches that seemed to have their whole afternoon free for they had been there chatting since Tonks was there with Remus for their lunch, and precisely eight minutes later, she was back at the Auror Office with the sandwich in her hands.

"I had seen him around a few times," he began after two large bites, "always making some money with these rattling things. One day, I asked if he wanted any help." He stopped to bite it one more time and took his time to swallow before continuing. "We don't have a lot of gold and after mum died…"

"Why aren't you at Hogwarts?" enquired Savage.

"Those books… too expensive… can't afford it."

"But Hogwarts has a fund for the ones that can't afford the books, the robes…" Savage pointed out.

The boy went quiet, chewing a couple of bites of the butty calmly.

"I'm a squib…" he finally admitted.

"It still doesn't justify what you tried to ―" Savage began, but the boy cut him off.

"My little sister isn't, she turns eleven on May, you see, I was just trying to give her a chance to go."

Tonks exchanged a meaningful look with her partner. Yes, she pitied him, but still did not give him the right to talk to her the way he had.

"And that wand?" asked Savage.

"Some bampot lost it, I found it. Doesn't work, though, not with me at least."

"Look, you really don't have to rob to help your sister. Dumbledore will come to talk with you all when she turns eleven. Don't fret. Now, is there anything else you can tell us about this Fletcher?"

Daniel shook his head.

"He just showed up, at the weirdest hours, asked me to do this stuff for him… Reckon he should stay out for a while, right? 'Til you forget about him or go somewhere else, I don't know."

Savage nodded and gestured for Tonks to follow him out the door.

"He's useless as bait."

"Yeah…" Tonks sighed.

"Think the best we can do about it is a stakeout, wait for him there."

"You're right."

"Can I clear him?" he asked with a light tilt of his towards the door.

"I'll talk to him."

"Give him a break," asked Savage. "He was desperate."

"You defending him? Whose side are you on?" questioned Tonks indignantly.

Savage chuckled awkwardly.

"Yours. You know that," he assured her. "But I understand why he ― I don't agree, but I understand."

Tonks rolled her eyes, exhaling heavily before opening the door.

"Just have one more question for you, Daniel."

"Yeah?"

"You're a squib, right? And it's obvious that you've gone through some pretty fucked up shit in your life and I doubt that you've like 'em. So, my question is simple, if you hate how you've been treated, _why on Earth did you say those shit to me?_"

"I ― I don't know."

"**You don't know?**"

She could not help the anger building inside her again, but saying that he did not even know why he had done what he did, was beyond her control.

"**Makes you feel better, does it?**"

"No, not exactly. Jus ― Just… normal…"

"Normal? **Normal?** _So insulting someone for something they did not have a choice makes you feel normal?_"

Daniel seemed to be unable to move a single muscle. She looked at him and she could only feel disgust. Yes, he had not had it easy on being brought up, but treating other people exactly as he had been treated was not the answer. She had not had easy as well, but what did she do? Did she do exactly as it had been done to her? No. She showed them all that you can choose a different path, that not everything is set in stone. Was he that different from Dunlop? Greyback even? Well, he did not express any wish to pass on his condition and he wanted his little sister's well-being, which definitely put him as somewhat better, but he did not bother to know who was being hurt on the way either. Tonks inhaled deeply, gazing at his eyes; an angry flick of her wand opened the door.

"Get out of here. I don't ever want to see you again."

Daniel left and Tonks let her hands fall on the table. Merlin, how could these people do it? How could they simply not think of anyone else? How could someone be so selfish? She knew she could not act as he did, no matter what shit she had had upon herself, she simply could not unload it on someone else just because they had something different, something they did not choose. Even if she wanted to, she was simply not able of such prejudice. Tonks walked out of the interrogation room. A few more hours of paperwork and she would be free, free to drink it away. She was certainly relieved to not have to do any more work after her shift at the Ministry was over, even if it was some work she had decided to do herself. Moreover she was glad she would not see Remus that night anymore, not that she did not want to, but the mere thought of coming to him after such terrible day was not exactly pleasant. She was aware that she would not be able to keep her mouth shut and the last person that needed to hear to her on that night, was him. He had had some terrible things to deal with himself, she knew that and an Auror gabbing about her life was far from being good for him. The only problem was that she was unaware that that werewolf in the library of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was utterly oblivious to how she was feeling and was also glad that he would not need to impose his miserable self to her presence; it had been a good while since he had testified such demonstration of prejudice against lycanthropes and he certainly did not wish for her to have to deal with anything remotely close to it.

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><p><strong>AN:** Auror action! Yay! I wanted to write this for a good while, but only now got round to do it. :) I hope you enjoyed it, been dying to show you a bit of how I think Aurors work besides behind their desks and Tonks and Savage's friendship. =P Thank you one more time for all your amazing reviews, you guys are unbelievable! Thanks! And, please, do leave your thoughts down here, will you?

Amelysse, I sent the email, hope it arrived all right. If not, you can email me at bubblegumpinkmoon at gmail . com . And if anyone else who doesn't have an account here and wants to receive every new chapter by email, feel free to write to this adress, all right?

My classes are going to re-start on Monday so my updates will obviously get slower, I'll try to update here as much as I can, though. Blame the strikes that Brazilian universities are starting April... Anyway, happy Easter for all of you tomorrow! ^_^ (Everybody eats chocolate, right? It's not just us here in Brazil, right?) Either way, lots of chocolate for y'all!


	29. 28 New Cake and Good Surprises

**A/N: **Hey, guys! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry, but I'm really trying my best, I'll see if I can put the next one sooner. xD Anyway, today's Teddy's birthday and I just love that little boy so much that I had to post something on his birthday, so happy birthday, Teddy! ^^ I actually have another one-shot that I wrote a while back that some of you may have read on my Tumblr, but I edited it and it's nearly done so I'll post it later today. :) Also, Amelysse, I sent the email again, hope it arrived all right. If not, you can email me at bubblegumpinkmoon at gmail . com .

One more time, thank you for all your amazing reviews! You guys are awesome readers, siriusly! S2 All my loving for you! ^_^ And please, do leave your thoughts down there, will you? ;)

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 28: New Cake And Good Surprises<strong>

The sky upon them held a disheartening shade of grey, the one that did not show any kind of a shining sun nor held any chance that the night ahead of them would be a promising one. The snow that had just started to fall seemed to be the missing item for a discouraging scenario, especially when one was outside hoping to find the single missing name of the Black Family member that had been disowned over two centuries before whilst waiting, in an immobile patrol, for someone to come from the protection of their enemies' safe house and make the smallest mistake for them to approach and bust him, setting their dear friend free. A fond smile came to Remus's lips the instant he heard a tired sigh coming from the blue-haired witch sitting across from him. Lifting up his head from the book in his hand, he watched her looking down at the several books that lied messily on the spot on the ground where they had chosen to hide themselves and then took off her gloves in order to pass the pages more rapid since her gloves were unnecessary due to his well-cast Warming Charm.

"This is boring!" complained Tonks, throwing her gloves on her feet. "Feel like I've been all the way to the Middle Ages and _nothing_! Absolutely _nothing_! Did you have anything close to it? 'Cause if you haven't we should really take a break. I know we're running out of time, but…" She exhaled heavily bringing the book back to her lap and getting her wand before starting to turn the pages aimlessly.

Over the past two weeks, their plan to give Sirius a better Black Tapestry had not been going as they hoped to and thus they were forced to search for the missing names at every chance they got they being during their shifts guarding the prophecy at the Ministry or watching the Malfoy Manor in hope to catch Peter Pettigrew.

"We should also do something about the fabric, we need to decide if we're really going to put the stars up, but if we don't have time for it, I guess we'll be fine and we need to find a way to ― Hey, look!" Her eyes narrowed looking at the few words that the light emanating from the tip of her wand illuminated. "Found it! 'Alfie Black was the one she had chosen and by consequence was deprived of all the benefits that came with belonging to a powerful pureblood family since they did not allow their members to marry half-bloods as he did.' Well, that ends the names now we just…"

Remus was sure that Tonks kept talking for a while, but at that moment her voice shifted to somewhere in the back of his mind for a different sound got his main attention.

"Shhh!" he hissed as she continued to talk lowly without having heard the hushed voices he had.

"Why ― ? _What?_" she whispered in response to his completely furrowed brows and attentive eyes, but he simply pointed to his ear, indicating for her to focus upon listening.

Tonks stood as slowly as she could and tried to identify the source of the sound she had begun to hear.

"_Nox!_" he heard her murmur before copying her and seeing her turning around and searching for the place where was whoever chatted at that time of the night in front of the Malfoy Manor.

Without the light of their wands, their task became much easier and soon they had seen a couple of hooded figures beside a white peacock. Even though neither of them could tell precisely what the voices were saying, it was clear that neither of the men were in any hurry to go inside and continue their conversation where it was safe. One of the voices was completely new for both of them, but the other one seemed to be quite familiar, slow, soft, contained and somewhat contemptuous, one they had heard more times than they could say they wanted to, one that surely belonged not only amongst the Death Eaters, but also within the Order of the Phoenix. Severus Snape's.

Tonks stepped closer leaning forward on the tree they were using to hide most of themselves despite all the spells they had decided to add to also hid them from any unwanted surprise. However, in doing so, she forgot that the copy of _Having Pure-blood x Being Pure-blood_ was still in her hand and the book slipped through her fingers causing a flump to emanate almost loudly around the Malfoys' grounds when it hit the grass not totally filled with snow yet. She immediately put her hands above her mouth and both of them held their breath, watching as the men slowly made their way towards them. Within seconds, the Death Eaters were nearly in front of them, but thanks to their protective spells, they remained sightless to them.

Remus and Tonks only allowed themselves to release their breaths and suck in another one when their cloaks could barely be descried after the whole minute of investigations around the area the Order members were. The instant they started to back away, however, the unknown Death Eater started to require more security around their Headquarters.

Tonks mentally cursed herself, _Bloody book!_, she thought summoning it back to her hands and starting to gather all the other ones they had left spread around the area. By the tone in their voices, she knew they would be lucky if within five minutes there were not a single soul patrolling and under no circumstances they could be found there. Remus needed only the single look she shot him to understand that they needed to leave as soon as possible, he held the bag and she started to throw the books inside unceremoniously. They got together all their other belongings, such as Tonks's gloves and Remus's hood that had been proven unnecessary due to his perfectly cast Warming Charm. She erased any prove that they had been there and could eventually led the Death Eaters to the Order, but most of them, Tonks knew, would be taken away by the snow that she had come so close to hating not fifteen minutes before and she welcomed it more than gladly before getting a hold of Remus's hand and disapparating both of them to the only place they knew the Death Eaters could not follow them, no matter what. The number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"We're going to have to leave it be for a bit," announced Remus the minute they had entered the Headquarters and locked the door behind themselves. "They'll add patrols and whatnot just looking for spies."

Tonks exhaled heavily throwing her scarf upon the hanger and taking off her coat almost furiously, having some trouble to do so.

"A month, I'd say," he suggested warily seeing the mixture of anger and frustration upon her face. "Or perhaps..." he added in hope to ease her features and at the same time nearly desperate to help her take away her fist that had somehow got stuck within her coat's sleeve, "we could return within a week, see how they've taken it. Check if they really added the patrols or not..."

"_Fine!_" snapped Tonks having finally been able to release her hand and throwing the coat towards the hanger but missing it due to her fury, causing the item to fall on the floor. Truthfully however, she could not care less at where it had ended up and so she marched out of the hall, going down to the kitchen.

Remus sighed nervously at the sight of her so distressed. He could almost feel his heart pumping in agony against his rib cage. He took of his coat carefully, then the hood and finally his gloves, letting them all on the hanger before following her. A rather loud cracking sound was coming from the kitchen and he could tell precisely how she was feeling before even setting his eyes upon her. Remus climbed down the few steps and saw Tonks nearly throwing the kettle upon the cooker.

"Tonks?" he called. "Tonks, what are you doing?"

"A bloody tea!" she answered rather unhappily, "to try to calm myself, if I don't manage to also screw it up, that is."

"You didn't screw it up," he stated before so much as a heartbeat had passed since she had finished her sentence.

Tonks snorted, an ironic smile making its way to her lips and he stepped forward, fingertips touching lightly her elbow until she forced herself to stop staring angrily at the kettle and look at him.

"I mean it," Remus assured her. "A book slipped your fingers; it could've ― _it was_ far more likely to happen with me than with you."

"Yeah, but I'm the clumsy one. It's always me who ―"

"Moreover, we wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for you," he pointed out. "It was your idea."

"**Doesn't mean I can fuck it up!**"

"BLOOD TRAITORS! BLOOD TRAITORS AND HALF-BREEDS DIRTYING EVERY CORNER OF MY PRECIOUS HOME!"

"_Ugh!_"

Tonks looked up to the ceiling before marching to the portrait with Remus behind her. With Mrs. Black's shouts echoing loudly in their ears, they struggled for a short while to shut the curtains, but managed nevertheless.

"You know," Remus began, "if anyone has the right to… do as you said ―"

"To fuck it up?"

"― it's you."

Exhaling heavily, she felt a corner of her lips turning slightly upwards whilst she crossed her arms, his eyes looking at her as though they would do just about anything to take away the smallest sign of martyrdom from hers and before she knew, her forehead had leant upon his chest.

"Sorry…"

Honestly, why he was so good to her? She simply could not understand, almost all the guys she had met were not at all like that and she wondered if even Sirius would have the ability to be sensible here and there.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. Slowly and tentatively, he moved his arm to pass it lightly around her shoulders. "It happens. All right?"

Tonks breathed in deeply, nodding against his chest.

"Now, what about that tea?"

She chuckled, lifting up her head from him.

"Yeah…"

In the kitchen, with a flick of his wand, the water within the kettle was boiling and she fetched a couple of mugs for them.

"See? Didn't break," he teased her.

Tonks rolled her eyes at him and Remus smiled, pouring the water in the mugs after adding some green tea in them.

"Pretty sure I can arrange that in a sec," she provoked.

"Ahn… No, thank you."

"'Kay then."

She shrugged walking out of the kitchen and starting to climb the stairs, Remus followed her all the way up to his room where they had been keeping the fabric for the tapestry that they had only started to work on as well as all the material on the disowned Blacks that they had been able to gather so far.

"So…" she started sitting on the floor and unravelling the fabric before sipping on her tea. "How are we going to…? Are you any talented on embroidering? 'Cause I'm crap."

"I'm… not bad," pointed out Remus, figuring it could not be much different from sewing and, thanks to his lack of gold, he was practically and expert on that. He gathered a few rolls of parchment before coming to sit across her, but he stood the next minute. "I think I've got a…" He opened the wardrobe's door and started to seek, "a yarn. Here!" He got the black ball of yarn he had used to mend one of his trousers a few days before and handing it to her. "It's not the best, but… do you reckon it's good enough?"

"I don't know, Remus, to be honest with you…" she informed him examining the item in her hand and sipping on her tea. "I know jack all 'bout dressmaking. What d'you think?"

"We don't wish it to be a perfect example of what a Pure-blood tapestry should be now, do we?"

"Nope."

Tonks shook her head.

"Well, then it's probably enough."

His robes had endured years on it either way.

"Besides, what was the worst that could happen? Sirius coming to tell us that the names are falling down?"

She laughed and he could not help but to do it as well.

"Might want to use a Permanent Sticking Charm for it in any case."

"Yeah, good one." She nodded, blowing on the surface of her tea before sipping on it. "Let's get to work then."

Remus stood up, carefully letting his mug on the bedside table and Tonks copied him.

"Let's start from the beginning," suggested Remus and moved to the other side of the room, where lied the top of the fabric.

Tonks started checking all rolls of parchment before handing him the one that held the information that she had found not an hour before.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Remus opened it and waved his wand to let it hanging before him, so he could check the information as he worked on the fabric. Crouching, he pointed the tip of his wand to it. Slowly, the name of Sirius's ancestral that they had discovered just a while before, started to appear. A few more flicks of his wand had the name Alfie Black was being written in an exquisite handwriting with the black yarn and clearly it would have been better if they had a better fabric or a better yarn on that matter, but they did not wish it to be perfect as the Pure-blood ones were in any case. Tonks started to search for the next names and ordered them by date, seeing which one Remus would need next. Soon, he had finished and she smiled at the sight of the first bit of their practical work done.

"Let me give it a try?" she pleaded making a face that jokingly begged for him to allow her to give it a go.

"Sure."

He nodded pulling the yarn closer to her and pointed to the spot where the next disowned Black should be. She had only got the first two letters from Emily Black's name, which was definitely not as good as Remus's, when two voices bickering at each other were heard in the room they were in.

"If you'd only let me cut the fringes…"

"Mum, it's fine."

"But shorter would be better!"

"You don't know that…"

They glanced at the opened door just to see Molly looking at Bill's hair very closely and certainly imagining how it would look some inches shorter.

"Fleur likes it that way ―"

"So you value her opinion over mine?" Molly frowned, placing her free hand on her chest, the other one holding a half-finished knitted jumper. "I'm your mother! I'd never say something to do any harm…"

"I know, Mum, but she's my girlfriend ―"

"So what? You're girlfriend and boyfriend now?"

Tonks chuckled. Molly did not seem to lack any of the qualities that a mother was supposed to have. Not only she disliked her son's girlfriend but she was able of many different knitting patterns… Merlin, she was nothing less than perfect to…

"Well, you know that happens when people date…"

"Couldn't you have let me know ―?"

"Molly!" called Tonks loudly after figuring they had watched the show for long enough.

"Oh, Tonks, dear. Hadn't seen you there…" She told her whilst her cheeks became somewhat redder. "Remus," she added looking a bit deeper into the room as Tonks stood up at once.

Bill smiled at her, nodding curtly.

"Listen," Tonks began, stepping closer to her and checking to see if Sirius had come down from feeding Buckbeak already, but a squeak from the room above let her know that her cousin remained locked up there with the Hippogriff. "We wanted to make Sirius something, but we're having a bit of a problem." She gestured for them to follow her into the room and pointed to the nearly empty tapestry.

She walked in, offering a smile to Remus as he stood up, inviting Molly to come closer, she shoved the jumper on Bill's arms before doing it somewhat warily, a wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. She had never been particularly fond of Sirius and helping them doing it, would certainly mean doing a favour for Sirius out of the blue.

"You see, we saw a fabric that had these stars in it and we wanted to do the same, some really bright stars. Mind you, we'd settle for some shining spots! But we're not sure how to do it..." she finished somewhat bashfully.

Molly stepped closer to the fabric and knelled, getting a fistful of the fabric and examining it in her hands for a moment.

"Could you help us?" enquired Tonks. "I mean, we'd really just need a few spells to test."

"Have you tried anything on this yet?" she questioned, getting up and looking from Tonks to Remus.

"No," answered Tonks promptly whilst Bill came closer to all of them, "we haven't."

For a far too long couple of minutes, Bill, Remus and Tonks watched as Molly looked attentively at the dark fabric, a muscle tightening in her jaw, clearly waging a battle with herself inside before she exhaled heavily, defeated.

"All right!" She started to fold it and getting a couple of genuine smiles from both Remus and Tonks. "I'll do it. And these names as well," she added, taking a look at the one Remus had put there just a short hour before. "No offense, dear, but they look as though they're about to fall down."

Tonks chuckled after looking at her partner and seeing a flush starting to come to his cheeks.

"Thanks so much, Molly!" She wrapped her arms around the Weasley, grinning widely and hearing some chuckles coming from Bill behind both of them. She would never have thought that Molly would take so much from their tasks to help Sirius. Sirius from all people, the one they had seen bickering at the Weasley more times that they cared to count. It had been a while since either of them had had such a good surprise. "Though..." she frowned slightly, reaching for the fabric, but letting it go almost immediately and crouching to get the few rolls of parchment that had been hers and Remus's work from the last couple of weeks, "you'll need all the precise names to... embroider."

With her arms full with the parchments, she got the fabric from Molly arms and shoved it into Remus's.

"Stretch it," she asked him and without delay, he had the opened fabric before her. "'Kay..." Tonks started to fix with a Sticking Charm each of the names where they were supposed to be embroidered and in a matter of minutes, they were all glued, allowing Molly to not get confused and ended up mistaking one with another and forcing them to re-start their work from step one. "Done!"

"Cool!" grinned Bill.

Remus then carefully folded it before handing it to the elder Weasley.

"Thank you, Molly."

He nodded curtly and she smiled.

"It's all right," she assured him. "Thankfully I've started the jumpers early this year, otherwise I wouldn't be able to help you, but this shouldn't take long. In two or three days, I expect them all to be shinning here."

"Just don't let Sirius see, all right?" advised Tonks. "It's a surprise."

"Do not fret, dearie. I'll keep it at the Burrow," assured Molly with a small smile and a nod before leaving, levitating it all before her with a wave of her wand.

Bill glanced sideways at his mother leaving and stepped closer to them.

"Thanks!"

He grinned, shaking his head and letting his still long hair fly a bit, hinting them as to what he had been referring to.

"Sure," said Tonks with a wink. "At your services."

She bowed hearing a small chuckle from Remus beside her before seeing Bill leave, shaking his head somewhat at her dramatic act. Tonks smiled, thankful that Molly had agreed with helping them make Sirius's life a bit less dreary.

* * *

><p>The remaining week was less busy than they had thought it would be, but that was strictly due to Molly's decision to help for they would also have to work on it besides the organisation of the surprise party. Although, the couple of shifts they had taken watching the prophecy all night long during that week had complicated a bit their schedule, but the excitement of so soon seeing Sirius's reaction to finally putting his eyes upon the tapestry was more than enough to keep them going despite it all. When all the Order had been invited, the banner was done and all that was left to be finished was the cake, Tonks did not lose the opportunity to suggest the one she liked the most.<p>

"You know, we could have the Tonkses' cake, the one you had back at mum and dad's, remember?" she recommended, twisting a lock of her lilac hair in her fingers from the sofa she had being lying on.

Remus nodded, agreeing with her suggestion. He certainly recalled enjoying that one piece of it he had had back then.

"It's a, um, very good idea," he cleared his throat. "Would you know how to bake it?"

Tonks laughed, shaking her head.

"No," she answered him, sitting properly on the sofa, "but even if I knew, I'd manage to bake something that not even a rat would eat," she assured him. "If you were willing to give a try, though, I could fetch the recipe with mum and I could help you."

"Wouldn't Andromeda be bothered by me baking the Tonkses' cake?" asked Remus, brows furrowing somewhat aware that some traditions were probably meant to stay within the family they were born into.

"Nah," she shook her head. "I hear grandma wasn't happy when she started baking it so I doubt that she'd be bothered by you giving a try."

"In any case," he added, "when you get the recipe with her, let her know that if she is anyhow troubled by it, to please, let me know. I don't want her to feel obliged to let me do this just because it's her cousin."

Tonks could almost hear the click in her head the following second.

"_We could invite her!_"

"Who? Your mother?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

Remus smiled.

"I thought about it," he admitted. "Problem is she's not in the Order and therefore has no knowledge of the headquarters," he finished with a tone that certainly showed just how sorry he was for all of it.

"She wouldn't be able to get in…"

Remus stared complete immobile, not wanting to trouble a bit more by saying another word she would dislike. As if he could find a way to let Andromeda join her cousin's party, as if he could convince Dumbledore to tell her where the location of the Order's Headquarters, just so Sirius would have a moment of happiness in seeing her. Though, Remus knew that he was not going to just give out the address along with an invitation for a party. Lately, the headmaster had not shown too much concern as to Sirius' state of mind, simply locking him there and repeatedly telling him that he should not get out so he would not get himself killed.

"Meet you here in a bit, I'll go get the recipe," said Tonks, standing up.

He nodded already walking to the pantry in order to start separating the traditional ingredients that were used in making a cake. Remus was surprised when he found it all, suspecting that Molly most likely had something to do with it since he doubted that Kreacher would have done anything else above the essential for survival to keep the meals every day. He found himself smiling when about ten minutes after Tonks's departure, he heard the usual sound of Mrs. Black yelling and covering the Auror's curses to the bloody object that insisted upon catching her foot out of nowhere; if she did not know better, she would say that it had been hexed to bother her more than anyone else in the Headquarters. Before he could follow the shouts and go help her, she was in front of him whilst he put the ingredients on the table. Half of his mind wondering how fast she had been able to do it and the other bit of it answering him that the minutes he had spent staring blankly at the wall and smiling stupidly had been more than enough for her to shut Sirius's mother.

"Here," she announced, bringing the parchment up to his eyes. "Sorry, Mum wasn't home and Dad didn't know very well where it was. We had to go through a few different sentences till we managed to summon it. Apparently, Mum doesn't want anyone to find it ― Not easily at least."

"Sure," Remus half-smiled, running his index finger on it and checking all the ingredients. "We just need to buy... chocolate and strawberries. Everything else's here." He tilted his head to all the things he had put on the table.

Tonks's eyebrows rose in a pleasant surprise as she got the list back to herself and examining what was missing.

"Cool! I'll head to Diagon Alley then; won't take long to get those."

"But we should ― Wait! Don't come back here," he ordered. "Go straight to my house. We can't do this if we're expecting Sirius to pop here and discover about everything after smelling the chocolate. We'll keep it all there and tomorrow we can bring everything back to here in a jiffy."

A nod from Tonks and her attentive gaze indicated for him that she had agreed with him promptly.

"D'you need any help to move those?" She tilted her head to the products.

"No, it's all right."

"'Kay. See you in a bit!" Tonks waved already walking to the door and paying special attention to the umbrella stand as she passed by the corridor.

"Cheers," he said already getting the bottle of milk in his arms, unable to stop the small smile that came to his lips when he heard the door opening and closing that indicated that she had been able to not trip over the troll's leg.

Remus put all the ingredients in a conjured bag and walked to the door as well, hearing, before he shut the door closed, a somewhat happier squawk from Buckbeak and hoped that his companion was at least as happy as the hippogriff seemed to be.

Appearing before the Lupin Bungalow, he started to take off some protection spells and entered the house a couple of minutes later, waving his wand to open a few windows in order to let some fresh air in. He walked straight to the kitchen, leaving the things on the counter and getting the recipe in his trousers pockets before following the first step. Tonks did not even bother with knocking and came in. From the bowl he had been mixing butter and sugar, he looked to her and the smile she displayed made him glad to have contributed for it, even if it was with a tiny part such as baking a cake to make her dear cousin happy, even if it would only last for a short while. Perhaps he could try and do something to make it appear to her face once more.

"Couldn't find strawberries," she announced placing the chocolate bar on the counter next to him. "Got cherries instead." She shrugged showing him the fruits before putting them near the Sugarplum's best.

"Reckon it's similar enough," pointed out Remus. "Here, hold these," he added, handing her a bowl and a sieve before checking the recipe.

"'Kay…" Tonks looked from him to the thing in her hands slightly warily.

Remus got the flour, the salt and the cocoa powder and put it right in front of her.

"Sift it all together, will you?"

"_Me?_" she asked incredulously.

He looked around, as if searching for someone else in the room that he could have possibly referred to in a mocked affront.

"I don't see anyone else here, do you?" he questioned looking completely innocent.

Her eyebrows and she bit her bottom lip.

"Cheeky."

"Besides, I couldn't possibly dream of baking the Tonkses' cake without at least a member of said family. Your mother would have me murdered."

Tonks chuckled along with him.

"She wouldn't. _Wingardium Leviosa!_" Tonks assured him before levitating the sieve. "I'd be more worried about nan. From what I've heard she wasn't too happy with mum deciding on baking it the first time. Still makes sure to be the one who'll bake me one every single time I go with dad to her place, not that I've seen her much lately. Must've been a year or so since I've been there."

"Your grandmother?" He narrowed his eyes. "It's probably worse then."

Tonks rolled her eyes, putting a bit of each ingredient in the sieve whilst he began to stir a mix of sour cream and baking soda.

"S'not." She shook her head. "She's very nice. Bet it was just 'cause her little boy was getting married so she wasn't all too happy." She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't get it why parents act like that, though. Do they really want their children to be alone forever? I mean, they should be happy they found someone they love, right?"

Remus nodded.

"I guess. Reckon they just dislike the idea of being replaced."

"But that doesn't make any sense. They sho ― Oh, _drat it_!" Tonks exhaled heavily. In her eagerness she had put too much flour and it managed to end up all over her stomach and the counter as well. "And that is the reason as to why I asked you to bake the cake. I'm a walking disaster," she told him, wiping some of the mixture from her robes.

Remus half-smiled. He could not deny that her clumsiness here and there charmed him. He got the bowl and eyed the content for a short instant.

"I wouldn't say so," he assented. "It seems as though even when you make a mistake things go well." He tilted the bowl in his hand to the side in order to check the mixture and gave it to her. "See? It's perfect. You've got talent."

Tonks stopped half-way through cleaning herself and rolled her eyes again.

"I call that luck."

"Cook more often and you shall be luck more often then."

She gave him a threatening look, but he simply smiled. He still had five days to the next full moon and the weariness would have kicked in, but he felt no more than a light tiredness and that intrigued him somewhat. Though, under such gaze, that thought was pushed away to the back of his mind.

Tonks handed him the bowl with all the ingredients well sifted before peeking on the mixture he had been stirring and Remus put both of them in a bigger bowl, flicking his wand so the mixtures would become one.

"All right, get the chocolate," he gestured to the package she had bought with his head, "and don't forget the cherries."

"Remus, I ―"

"Hey, I've got my hands full," he interrupted her pointing out that with the right hand holding the wand and the left bowl, he could not do it.

Tonks smirked.

"Now, what would you do if I hadn't been here?"

"Well, I suppose I'd have to stop, put my wand down, pour the chocolate in and then mix it, but that would only slow us down, wouldn't it?" He offered her a small smirk and Tonks obliged. "You have the honour of adding the most important ingredients. Come here. Now go putting it ― **No, don't!**" Remus tried to pull the bowl away, but he was not fast enough. "― away from the wand's tip…" he finished with sigh.

"Shit!"

Figuring it would be the fastest way to make the ingredient blend, Tonks had done precisely as she was not supposed to and as a result, her stomach had not been the only place of her body that had chocolate on it or Remus's or the kitchen on that matter.

"You call this luck too?" mocked Tonks, letting some chocolate fall from her fingers and on the floor.

Remus shook his head, but too absorbed in the sight of Tonks covered in several small chocolate pieces to realise that she was not looking at him and did not notice that he had indeed answered her. Not quite sure as to why or he was moving towards her, Remus placed a hand on her cheek and she instantly met his eyes, as if somewhat enquiringly. His thumb, as though it had a mind of its own, went to lightly brush the corner of her lips, where a piece of chocolate had come to rest. The sweet was not upon her skin anymore, but Remus seemed unable to pull his hand away, not when her skin felt so incredibly good under his touch, not when his gaze seemed unable to look away from her velvet lips, not when the beats with both their hearts came to his increased hearing like the drums of The Weird Sisters' albums she loved so much egging him on and he knew it would feel so natural to bend down and ―

His breath caught in his throat as he was suddenly brought back from his torpor. Her eyes had softened, but the questioning remained there even if much more suave and he took his hand from her cheek the same minute, fighting the blush that was making its way to his cheeks.

"It's a, ah…" he raised his thumb to show her the reasoning behind his action, but refusing to meet her eyes, "piece of chocolate."

"Um…" murmured Tonks swallowing hard and suddenly very committed on cleaning her trousers.

"Don't fret, it's easier if I ― _Scourgify!_" he cast the spell with a large wave of his wand that encompassed every dirty bit of the room as well as themselves and every piece of chocolate disappeared.

"Thanks." She nodded smiling.

"Sure," said Remus getting a hold of the bowl and offering for her to pour the chocolate in. "If you please," he added determined to not let her know a single bit of what had gone through his mind in what he could only call as a moment of insanity a couple of minutes back.

Tonks sighed, but got the chocolate and the cherries and put them in either way with a slightly amused smile.

"Seriously, if I'm not your definition of walking disaster, then I have no idea what is."

Remus shook his head with a small smile as he waved his wand to blend the new ingredients into the mix.

"You just need to learn to dose your luck."

She snorted.

"And exactly how does one dose their luck? 'Cause the last time I checked luck wasn't something we could exactly control," she brought forth. "You knew this was going to happen. You tried to stop it."

"Well…" He put the uniform mixture inside the bundt pan before putting it to bake. "You just need some experience. You did it perfectly the second time ―"

"You weren't mixing yet," she retorted.

"But even if I was, you wouldn't have done it because that would've been a not exactly smart move and you are smart, very much so."

"Thanks," she said a bit surprised by his sudden compliment.

"And you won't learn if you don't practise." He waved his wand so the bowls would start washing themselves.

"'Kay…" She sighed defeated.

"So, now that we've put that behind us. May I offer you a cuppa?" asked Remus pulling a kettle from the cupboard and filling it with water.

"Sure."

"How do you take it?"

"Um, half of milk and six sugars," she answered. "And I won't say no to a cream either."

He flicked his wand rapidly to the kettle before looking at her and Tonks wondered if it was possible for an eyebrow to arch any higher than that.

"What?" she spoke indignantly. "Tastes nice."

"Not judging," he assured her smiling and turning to put the hot water in the mugs before preparing each one as they liked. "I'm out of cream, forgive me."

Tonks blew on the surface before swallowing and she was amazed to perceive that it was as good as if she had prepared it herself.

"Perfect," she told him taking a seat by the table as he walked towards her. "Pity we can't have Harry around, right?"

Remus nodded, pondering it for half a moment.

"Sirius would certainly be more happy if that was the case."

Half an hour passed as they awaited the cake to bake, preparing the ingredients for the glaze whilst arguing happily over all the possible reactions that Sirius would have after they showed him the tapestry. Sure he knew about the small party they had been organising, but for him, it was all they had been spending their time lately. Remus said that he would carry it with him, showing to every single person and explaining what each person had done to earn the title of disowned Black, but Tonks would argue saying that he would most likely hang it on a wall in the kitchen so that everyone could see it.

When the cake was finally ready, Remus took it from the pan so they could pour the final glaze over it. They could not deny that it certainly looked beautiful once some cherries were also put on top of it, their colour contrasting lovely with the dark brown of the chocolate, but Tonks frowned.

"There's only one problem."

"What?" asked Remus, frowning as well.

"This isn't the Tonkses' cake," she pointed out. "The cherries, the magic. Mum always does it the Muggle way, you know, 'cause of nan and I'm not _at all_ opposed to it, but… We need a new name ― _The Lupins' cake!_" She grinned enthusiastically at him. "You guys don't have a cake already, do you?"

"Um, no…" Remus rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the cake as if trying to understand how all of a sudden his whole family had been entitled over a simple cake and unsure if he should let her know that 'you guys' meant him and well, himself, no one else.

"Awesome!" She grinned wider. "Makes much more sense, you know, you made most of it anyway."

"You came up with the new ingredient, though," he brought forth.

"Well, I didn't really have a choice, you see. I'd've got strawberries if I could."

"But you still choose them, you could've got raspberries, but you choose the cherries," he pointed out casting a Conservative Charm on the cake so it would last until the next day.

"Yeah, I s'pose I did…"

"So we probably should name it Nym ―"

Remus stopped himself when her wand left its holster and its tip touched his chin.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence."

Despite her voice sounding threatening indeed, Remus did not think he was in any actual danger, not when Tonks was at the other end of the weapon.

"I won't," he assured her only then allowing himself a smile. "My family just got a new cake."

"Good." She smirked lightly putting her wand back in the holster and only then she noticed the time. A quarter to three. The end of her lunchtime was long gone. Why did time with Remus always seem to fly? "Bloody Hell! I gotta go." She looked at him with apologetic eyes, biting her bottom lip.

"Oh, all right." He did not really expect for her to stay all day, did he? Of course she had to go.

Tonks walked a couple of steps to be beside him and stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Thanks."

Remus watched her leave, not following her to the door due to the way his feet seemed to be glued onto the floor. He knew she only done it for she thought she would not have been able to do it by herself, but that was not true. She would have found a way to make it work. Even if it meant to buy a cake, but he could not deny that a homemade one had a much more special value and he had helped her. She was amazing for having the idea, he was good at cooking, she was not, he had helped her make the surprise better, that was it and absolutely nothing else.

* * *

><p>The third of December finally arrived and Remus had a hard time trying to make Sirius cheerful whilst Tonks and Molly organised the last few things for the party. He was almost glad that said task had been cut short by his friend when he decided to sleep until almost noon and left him waiting at the library for any sign that his best friend had awoken. Remus wondered if it was all a cover for not having to see anyone since he had noticed that more and more often Sirius was found talking with Buckbeak or at some different room of the Grimmauld Place at the earliest hours of the morning distracting himself with the most random object from the house. It was not at all like Sirius to be like that, but being stuck inside a house without being able to do so much as put one foot out of the door was not either.<p>

Both Marauders stumbled through the afternoon with Remus doing his best to recall his other birthdays, some of their best pranks whilst in Hogwarts or perhaps just taking his focus from the fact that not even all his birthdays in Azkaban were worse than that. Not having freedom was definitely unpleasant, but having it and being unable to enjoy it was certainly worse.

Remus was incredibly glad when a witch wearing the purple hair she knew her cousin was fond of finally knocked on the library's door where the two men were recalling their first week in third year when they had skipped the Arithmancy class to join Wormtail in Divination just to happily realise that they had made the right choice regarding their timetable.

"Hey, Sirius, would you come down here a sec?" asked Tonks. "Wanna show you something."

He stood up, gazing at her with curious eyes and Tonks led him to the drawing-room with Remus right behind them. She twisted the doorknob and let it swung open. Sirius came in, looking for any object that might jump to his eyes, but after a quick search, he did not find anything and looked back at his cousin.

"What?"

Tonks smiled amusedly and walked to the spot where the Black Tapestry was, only now it was hidden by a different one, a dark with small shinning tiny stars, one that had more burnt marks than names on it, but only made the names all the more important. Sirius stepped closer until he could see precisely what was written in it and Tonks could not have stopped the smile from coming to her lips when his jaw fell open after realising what they had done. A chuckle escaped his lips the instant he read the addition of 'Or not' that they had done to the family's lemma of 'Tojours Pur'.

"Happy birthday, mate."

Remus stepped closer to hug him tightly, trying to put in it all the things Sirius had done for him that he had never properly thanked him for and hoped that it could be at least of some comfort for him.

"Thanks, Moony."

Tonks jumped on his neck the instant Remus was out of the way.

"Happy birthday, Siri!"

"Thank you, Nymphie."

She let him go so she could be able to give him a look, but Sirius merely shrugged, smirking. He moved to take away the new tapestry and Remus and Tonks exchanged a slightly concerned look for a short moment.

"Sirius…?" she called somewhat worried, but he did not answer, simply got the tapestry from where it was and walked out of the drawing-room.

Still frowning, Remus and Tonks gazed into each other's eyes for another instant before following him. Had he not liked it? Perhaps it was not the best idea, perhaps it only reminded him that he did not have a lot of people he could trust. They followed him as Sirius climbed the stairs up to his room and stared gobsmacked at him when he levitated it, securing the tapestry on the ceiling with the same Permanent Sticking Charm he had put upon everything in his room that proved just how different he was from the rest of his family.

"Looks good, doesn't it?" questioned Sirius, analysing it.

Remus and Tonks allowed themselves a relieved sigh.

"It does," he agreed.

"Yeah…" she grinned before waving her wand towards the floor, but directly to the stereo in the kitchen and the loud sound of The Weird Sisters' guitars echoed through the house, waking Mrs. Black up, but loud enough that it, at the same time, blocked her shouts. "Come on," she tilted her head, "the Order's here and there isn't a meeting." She winked.

The three of them climbed down the stairs towards the kitchen and found the room replete with members already drinking and chatting happily. Sirius was soon embraced by lots of them, receiving several happy birthday wishes and a few gifts, including some china from Mundungus that already had the Black Family crest upon it. Even Molly shook his hand smiling as much as the witch disliked his attitude, she could not deny that he had good intentions behind it all.

For a few good hours it was almost as though there was no war outside, as though they were friends enjoying a birthday party instead of members of a secret society celebrating in the its headquarters for it was the only safe place for them. Almost as though, they could have picked a pub in the middle of London and drank as much as they wanted to without taking the risk of revealing any secret information that several of them had risked their lives to obtain and therefore risking their clandestine. Almost as though they could discuss their work day with any soul on the street without worrying if they knew about the existence of a hidden magical world and just how dangerous it was at that moment for anyone, be it Muggle or wizard, whichever side they had chosen to help, or even if they had not chosen a side at all.

It was so wonderfully easy to pretend that there was nothing else out there, that they were as safe as they were six months back when the Dark Lord had yet to return. And thus, when the cake was already cut and most of the chatting had been replaced by the sound of tableware hitting the porcelain of the plates, Tonks came to occupy the empty seat beside Remus's.

"If I had seen him moping, I'd have cast a Cheering Charm, I swear."

Remus chuckled.

"He was cheerful enough," he pointed out. "Probably will remain so until he can no longer keep his eyes open."

"Hope so," she grinned before sipping on her butterbeer.

"Must admit I didn't think he'd like the tapestry so much, but did you see how flabbergasted he was?"

She nodded enthusiastically, swallowing a bite of her piece of cake.

"Amazing! So glad it worked out just fine."

"That wonderful idea of yours."

She shook her head.

"Team's effort," she corrected him. "By the way, wonderful job of yours." She gestured towards the cake in front of her.

"Team's effort," he corrected her, trying not to smile.

"Only one conclusion to take then." She shrugged getting a hold of her butterbeer. "We make a marvellous team," grinned Tonks before hitting her bottle on his lightly. "To us."

And before mimicking her and sipping on his butterbeer as well, he repeated her say, smiling and nodding, "To us."


	30. 29 Surprise Strike

**A/N:** Hiiiii, everyone! I missed so much posting here, you guys have no idea! xD I'm so sorry for this delay, I didn't mean to go so long without uploading something in here, but you know, sometimes it happens, life gets in the way. =P Also, I was working on other stuff that I'll probably be posting soon! YAY! And to who asked me for my twitter account, I posted on my profile, but I'll warn you, I don't reall update there, try my Tumblr 'cause it's a billion times easier to find me there. Anyway, hope you like this one, it's for Tonks's birthday even though I planned on posting before originally. Bits from the book, head canons and the usual writing, so in short there's everything in this chapter. Enjoy! ^_^

PS: Over 200k words! O.O That's A LOT!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 29: Surprise Strike<strong>

Christmas had not been a happy holiday for Remus Lupin for the previous fourteen years, apart from a merry one, a couple of years before. This year he had more than just one reason to believe that things were most likely going to be much better. Not only he had got his best friend back from Azkaban, but he had also made another friend, something that did not happen for the same amount of years, perhaps even longer. Tonks. He had long lost hope that he would have marvellous people in his life as the Marauders once were when he re-encountered Harry; surely he did not expect for the boy to be precisely like James, but he was still glad to have a reminder that life had not always been awful. Ten months later he had received the wonderful news that Sirius had not committed the murders to which he had been convicted for. And less than a year and a half later, he would meet another person from his past; someone he did not even recall at first, never thought he would see again, if he had stopped to think about it, but he seemed unable to pass a whole day without having that pink-haired girl in his thoughts, even if they were as short as wondering the colour of her hair in a day that they did not meet each other.

And it was thinking about her that he had left the Grimmauld Place earlier, together with a tired Arthur, complaining that he still had a shift watching the Prophecy later that night and went to the Lupin Bungalow. He felt as though he ought to give her something for that special holiday, yet as he did not possess the gold to buy her something that somehow expressed how he felt towards her, how he was grateful that she had let go of at least part of the prejudice she had before she met him and became a great friend for him, regardless of what being friends with a werewolf could bring her. Remus wanted Tonks to have at least the faintest idea of what her friendship meant for him ― nearly as much as the Marauders' meant during his teen years, since the only one left from his friends was stuck in a place without being able to help him anyhow ― even if it meant to present her with something that had belonged to his beloved late mother.

Although he had searched during the whole afternoon, he could not find something that fit what he had in mind. It seemed as though Tonks had an utterly different taste to clothing and accessories from his mother's, albeit being a charming one. Thus, Remus made his mind to not return to the Headquarters, spend the night in order to continue his search the following day and only stop when he had found such item, even if it meant to charm one of his mother's belongings to add a special touch to personalise his gift, howsoever needed.

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><p>A week away from Christmas, Tonks had only begun to purchase the necessary presents. She had spent a couple of hours at the Diagon Alley that morning and despite having managed to buy some gifts, her 'To buy' list was longer than the 'Already bought' one when she arrived home. She could only blame the lots of golden coins in her Gringotts account as well as the amazing things she had seen at the shop's windows. Harry, for instance, had not been in her list, but once she had stopped at the Quality Quidditch Supplies just to check on the newest merchandise for the Montrose Magpies and saw that Firebolt miniature, she realised that such item would made a great gift for him and even though they had not shared more than a few chats, Tonks felt like she knew him quite well due to Sirius's constantly talking about the Potter boy and she would not miss the opportunity to gift him something nice.<p>

Remus, on the other hand, had been the first name after her parents' and she was not entirely sure why he had popped into her head so immediately, but she promptly figured that, by the great amount of hours they had spent together lately, even more once she had decided to give Sirius the tapestry of the disowned Blacks, he most definitely deserved such spot. Then, Sirius, he did not strike her as a difficult bloke to buy for, but the ridiculously high piles of gold in his vault made her wonder if there was something he wanted that gold could not buy.

Later that day, sometime between midnight and the moment the birds begin to sing, she was awoken by the deep voice of her colleague Kingsley Shacklebolt as well as the light of a lynx right in front of her bed.

"_**Tonks!**__ Emergency meeting at the Ministry; you know where. __**Now.**_"

Her eyes were still attempting to adjust to the light when her brain began to process the information it had just been given. They opened wide an instant later and she jumped out of bed the moment the lynx patronus disappeared. She ran to the wardrobe, leaving her pyjamas on the floor somewhere in between and got the first clean robes she found, putting them on as fast as humanly possible. _Emergency meeting..._ Could it mean a battle? Was there anyone from the Order in some kind of danger? _You know where ..._ There were only two places she could imagine Kingsley referring to as that, but the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix was not at the Ministry and therefore, it could only mean the Hall of the Prophecy. The following second, Tonks had grabbed her wand and vanished into thin air.

The atrium of the Ministry of Magic was the complete opposite of how she was used to see for at those early hours in the morning, the single leaving soul she could spot was the security guard listening to the Hobglobins' song that came from a tiny stereo. She morphed to look quite different from her usual appearance and walked as slowly as she could without calling any attention to herself and managed to reach the lifts anonymously, she pressed impatiently the ninth button, telling to shut up the bit of her brain that insisted upon bringing forth the obviousness of the fact that it would not make the lift go faster under any circumstance. When it finally had arrived, she practically threw herself at the golden grilles, going down nine floors before leaving the lift and running towards the staircase, going down another floor until she got through the black door and into the circular room that would lead to the Hall of the Prophecy which was not empty as it usually was.

"Hey," she said to Kingsley whilst breathing deeply to try to catch up with her breath. "What's ― _What the fuck happened here?_" she enquired noticing the pool of blood not far from where her colleague was standing.

"What's your favourite hair colour?" asked Kingsley with his wand pointing to her chest.

"Pink," she grinned morphing her hair to pink and he lowered his wand.

"Arthur was attacked," he answered simply. "Was just taken to St. Mungo's. A snake, it seems; Potter saw it ―"

"_Harry saw it?_ How the hell?"

Kingsley shrugged.

"Is he a seer or something? Maybe he is, we don't know much about his family, but there's a chance, right?"

"Probably ― Dumbledore took care so we found him and not someone else ― Listen, we've just done the first patrol and nothing. Check from that corridor onward, would you?" He pointed to the corridor and she withdrew her wand, already walking to it. "Be careful, eh!"

"Don't worry!" She offered him a grin and lit her wand.

Tonks walked down the corridor searching for any sign that the reptile intruder, or whoever sent it, was still around as well as for any clue that could help the Order identify them. One by one she checked the hallways, but none of which held any information that could be useful for them albeit she had scanned very carefully. Back at the ninety-seventh corridor, where Kingsley had been, she noticed that he was no longer alone and another Order member, Emmeline Vance, had joined him.

"Emmeline and Deddalus are staying here with me," he gestured to the end of the hall where she could descry the light that was too bright to be fire and could only be coming from Deddalus's wand. "We still need someone to go with Moody take the kids to the hospital for a visit tomorrow, could you do it?"

"Sure!" Tonks nodded fiercely. "When?"

"In the morning, I figure," he replied. "Molly'll probably want to take them as soon as possible. They're with Padfoot at the Headquarters by now ―" He turned his face as soon as a metallic sound started to echo near them. "There he comes!"

"Mad-Eye!" she grinned. "See you tomorrow?"

"You sure will!" Moody nodded nearly angrily. "Come to my place right after lunch and we'll see how things will be going then."

"Tonks, have you heard from Remus?" asked Kingsley when Mad-Eye walked away and after a quick look around, he added, "Your cousin says he's not there and ―"

"Have you tried his house?"

"His house?"

"Yeah, the Lupin Bungalow," she smiled a bit, recalling the home she had been in a few times. "Here and there he stays there so, maybe."

Kingsley nodded a couple of times, raising his eyebrows.

"Spending quite some time with him, aren't you? Would you mind sending him a sealed note about this?"

Tonks nodded, half-smiling.

"Course! He's a nice bloke."

"He is, isn't he?"

"Yeah and we're helping Si ― Padfoot, making him feel a bit better about being … there."

"Is it working?" he questioned.

"Sort of," answered Tonks. "Sometimes he's just too fed up to listen to us … Anyway, I better get going. You know the drill, work in the morning, gotta wake up early. See you, Kings!"

"Cheers."

Tonks re-did the path she had taken to Department of Mysteries, but this time she did not have to hide herself from the security guard for she disapparated home before he had a chance of seeing her. At her flat, she immediately felt the tiredness coming back and she tossed away her clothes before nestling comfortably into bed one more time, only then realising that if she had not been in such a hurry when she got Kingsley's message, she would probably have got one more coat.

Although she slept incredibly well, soon she was awoken once more for she needed to meet Alastor at his house. After a making a quick cup of tea for herself and eating a couple of toasts, she moved to her desk to begin writing Remus's note with invisible ink.

_Dear Remus,_

Tonks frowned. Somehow it did not seem right to start a letter for him that way; especially when said letter would let him know about how one of their colleagues almost died during a service for the Order. And so, she tore that piece of parchment apart and re-started.

_Remus,_

_I'm going to St Mungo's later, take Harry and the kids to visit Arthur. Mind you, he was attacked by a huge snake, it seems, down there at the Ministry. Don't worry, though, he's not so bad. Harry saw the attack and Dumbledore was alerted almost immediately about it, so he's safe now. I'll let you know how he is once I'm back, but it'd be nice if you could stop by to give some support._

The Auror hesitated for a short moment as to what she should put before her signature since, but due to the exact same reason she did not start the letter with a 'Dear' before his name and opted to simply sign with her surname.

_Tonks_

She magically sealed the parchment and tied it to Penates's leg before opening the window so he could fly to deliver the message. The owl crossed the sky faster than your usual owl, slowing down only when he spotted a blue bungalow by a forest. Penates stopped by the pane, touching the glass with his beak until he woke the single occupant of the house. Frowning a bit and rubbing his eyes, Remus walked over to get the letter, figuring that if something had to be delivered at that hour, it should not be something good, most likely Order related, if not, maybe yet another owl of someone asking him how he dared to teach children for so long being what he was. However, a bit longer look at the bird reminded him that he had already seen that owl and several times, that recognition made him feel somewhat relieved in spite of all; at least he would hear from her whatever bad news were ahead of him.

Remus untied the parchment before letting the owl in and putting some water for the bird on a small pot for he could not even remember the last time he had bothered on buying owl's treats. Carefully, he got his wand to reveal the invisible ink and began to read the few words in Tonks' sloppy handwriting. His heart pumped against his chest the instant he read about Arthur being attacked; he could have died. It could easily have been him or even worse, someone else ― Tonks could have been there after all she had been taking quite a lot shifts watching the prophecy. And what if she had died? What if Arthur had died? The kids and Molly would certainly need all support they could have. Remus sucked in a breath. He would visit Arthur at St. Mungo's, make sure he knew that he could count on him for anything he or his family needed. That could not be done immediately, though. He would need to allow the truly important people in his life to have a visit at first. Perhaps at night he would be free to talk with him for a minute before allowing Mr. Weasley some rest.

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><p>She reappeared the next instant before the most protected home of a wizard, not counting the Grimmauld Place since that was most likely the safest place in England. Before she had even reached the door, she heard one of the many protective spells go off and she knocked on the door a few times.<p>

"Mad-Eye, it's me!" she shouted. "We agreed to meet here right aft ―"

"After lunch. Yeah, yeah, of course."

"When was the first time we met?" enquired Tonks, aiming her wand for his chest.

"First week of Auror training," he replied already walking back and leaving the door open so she could enter, not showing much care at her wand and re-settling the spells. "Come on now."

She rolled her eyes a bit frustrated and exhaled somewhat heavily before going in. She had been there before, two or three times, she was not sure. However, the lots of sneakscopes at every inch of the house still made her feel as though they were going to be under a severe attack at any second and going paranoid about it albeit giving her the feeling of security. If they were going to be under attack, at least she would know beforehand and thus, would have enough time to prepare herself. Tonks was sure that Mad-Eye's home would certainly make an excellent Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. The single setback being the fact that Mad-Eye would never give away his house, not if it meant that he would be left with no hidden place for himself to be safe in case he was betrayed for all of the Order members.

In entering the drawing-room, Tonks saw Moody's coffee table covered in at least five maps of London, including the tube. Of course. She was not sure of what she expecting to see, but had she stopped to think about it, she would have definitely imagined something similar.

"Was going through the best way to lead the kids. Till now I think we ought to use only Muggle ways, that Umbridge woman's waiting for an excuse to expel Potter and we _cannot_ allow that to happen," he stated looking directly at her with his normal eye, but Tonks soon looked down to the maps on the coffee table and sat on the couch.

"Yeah, sure…" She nodded, pulling one of them closer to her.

"So that's why we're taking the tube," he added, taking a seat beside hers. "There's a stop near the mall, but we it would make only too easy for someone who's following us to know where we're headed to, so we'll want to choose the previous stop for the sake of ―"

"Wouldn't that make it all more dangerous for Harry, though?" she asked, frowning slightly. "I mean, we can protect him ― _them_ inside the train much better than if we're out in the open."

"Well, but it'd draw attention to the fact that Potter's visiting him."

"So, is it a secret that Harry's friends with the Weasleys?" retorted Tonks.

"No, but it'd remind _everyone_ that _Arthur Weasley_ was badly injured while at the Department of Mysteries," pointed out Mad-Eye.

"Wouldn't that happen either way? _And why does this even have to do with the tube stop?_" Tonks stood up exhaling heavily. "Look, I doubt they'd try to attack Harry like that, especially if he's in a big group of people ― We're what? Seven? No, eight with Molly. _But_" she added quickly as Moody seemed to be about to oppose himself to her with what she was sure to be loads of reasons as to why Harry could be attacked, but she would not listen to them, not then at least, "you've gotta agree with me that he'll be safer on the train."

"I s'pose he will, but that would risk the Order."

"The Order would only lose the surprise element!" she brought forth. "Or would you stop fighting if we were discovered? Without Harry, though…"

"Potter would become a martyr."

"_You suggesting we kill him?_"

"**No, I'm not suggesting we kill him!**" chid Moody angrily only then standing up as well. "Just saying that the Order wouldn't die if Potter was dead."

"All right, all right!" she boasted. "Can we stop this here? Let's just go get 'em and do this ― And _yes_, we're using the tube until the mall," stated Tonks going to the door.

"What if we walk from the Headquarters until the next stop? Going past the nearest one?" enquired Moody following her.

"_Mad-Eye!_" she bellowed swinging the door open.

"Fine! But we'll need to be extra careful to make sure we're not being followed," he affirmed walking out of the house. "_Accio!_" A bowler hat came flying to his hand.

"Always a-am!" she grinned and seeing him put it on, she refrained her laughter the best she could. "You really wearing that?"

"The eye'll catch more attention if it's there for everyone to see."

"Yeah…" Tonks chuckled. "It'll attract far less attention on the Underground."

"I take the back and you take the front," ordered Mad-Eye. "Still remember the way, don't you?"

"How could I forget? You know I must've visited this place every month during Auror training," she reminded with a light smirk before vanishing into thin air, apparating before the Grimmauld Place and knocking on the door.

Almost immediately she heard the usual shouts of Sirius's mother, but they did not last for long. It seemed as though all of them were all waiting for her and Mad-Eye to arrive and escort them on their way to the hospital. They would have arrived much sooner if her mentor had not insisted upon protecting Harry and the Order too much, as she assured Ginny whilst hugging her the minute their eyes had met hers. Tonks had missed her. A lot. Although Ginny's letters for her would arrive more often than Harry's to Sirius, they were nearly the same as nothing since neither of them could not say much in fear that the owls were intercepted and reveal any confidential information. There was something that the Auror was really interested, though, from the moment Kingsley had told her that Harry had been the one to see what had happened to Arthur and Tonks figured that there was absolutely no better opportunity to ask Harry about it than when they were stuck in a train trip for a short while.

"There isn't any Seer blood in your family, is there?" she enquired curiously, sitting on his side on the rattling train to have the quite some time to talk with him about it and making sure he was well guarded.

"No," answered Harry looking somewhat unhappy.

"No," she agreed musingly; she did not recall ever hearing of something similar, Seers were always able to see forward from what she recalled, "no, I suppose it's not really prophecy you're doing, is it? I mean, you're not seeing the future, you're seeing the present ... it's odd, isn't it? Useful, though ..."

Harry remained silent for the rest of the trip, which was not much since they had to get out at the next stop, in the very heart of London. Tonks led the group up the escalator, watching as the kids tried to hide their amused looks at the several Muggle inventions down there. A glance backwards showed her that Harry was perfectly safe walking beside Mad-Eye, talking about St. Mungo's location, and Moody's eye looking at all possible spots in the shortest time. She awaited two women to leave the window of the shop and looked behind herself.

"Right," she said walking towards the bizarre manikin. "Everybody ready?"

Tonks got a glimpse of the nods from all of them gathering around her. She leant very close to the glass, looking at the manikin and seeing her breath steam the window.

"Wotcher. We're here to see Arthur Weasley."

The manikin offered her a tiny nod back and beckoned with its jointed finger. Tonks's arms seized Ginny and Molly's elbows before she stepped through the glass, entering the hidden building. Fred, George and Ron joined them short after and Harry and Mad-Eye were soon there as well.

Several witches and wizards filled the reception area whilst Healers walked up and down between them, trying to help them to the best of their capabilities. Molly promptly took the next spot behind the queue and proceeded to call the kids to get closer to her as the Aurors stood behind, watching every soul that came slightly closer to the boy who lived. Sooner than expected, Molly managed to talk with the Welcome Witch and invited them all to follow her. They tailed her through double doors and along the narrow corridor beyond, which held lots of famous Healers' portraits, and was lit by crystal bubbles full of candles that floated up on the ceiling.

Even more Healers were walking from patient to patient there, weird smells, gases and wounds were seen everywhere they looked, but Tonks was not exactly surprised by them, having had plenty of those herself not too long ago. They climbed a flight of stairs before entering the Creature-Induced Injuries corridor; the second door on the right bore the words _Dangerous' Dai Llewllyn Ward_: Serious Bites. On the card underneath it was handwritten: Healer-in-Charge: _Hippocrates Smelthwyck. _Trainee Healer: _Augustus Pye_. The little space inside the Ward made Tonks realise that they would not all fit inside it at once and as it had no other way out, Mad-Eye and her could watch out for them from there.

"We'll wait outside, Molly," informed Tonks. "Arthur won't want too many visitors at once ... It ought to be just the family first."

Mad-Eye made a sound of agreement and after Molly insisted that Harry should enter with them as well, he leant his back against the wall, his electric blue eye looking left, right and centre whilst Tonks grabbed an out-of-date copy of WitchWeekly and set herself with her shoulder against the wall, looking through the pages absently.

"That one," came Mad-Eye's voice and when she looked up from the magazine to him with a small smirk upon her face, he nodded towards a man behind her back.

Slowly, Tonks turned around to get a better look at the one Moody had indicated. A man was apparently lacing his boots innocently, but as the Auror's favourite pastime, one created by Mad-Eye's grandfather as she had been told countless times, was to imagine what they would do in the present scenario if they suddenly saw themselves under attack, Tonks thought for a short moment before answering.

"Stun," she answered. "And if it didn't work, I'd get in," she tilted her head towards the door of Arthur's Ward, "take shelter for an instant and then come out a couple of seconds later to surprise him."

"What if he got a civilian whilst you were in, huh?"

"Well ..." Tonks crossed her arms over her chest, somewhat annoyed with herself for not thinking of that possibility before. And there she was, thinking she had thought of a considerably prudent strategy.

"Bunch of sick wizards for him to pick," Moody pointed out. "Far too easy."

"Tell everyone else to hide and then the bloke to let them go, that he had no choice, you know, that kind of stuff, two of us against him ―"

"Oh, I'm not here, Tonks."

"Wha ― Why?" she questioned indignantly. "If I can't have you, do I at least, have Savage?"

"No," he stated immediately.

She sighed annoyed, rolling her eyes at him.

"So then, if it didn't work, I'd ... Well, I'd've to distract him myself, red sparkles towards them and hit him when he was surprised, try to get the hostage from him. Something like that."

"Not at all bad," admitted Mad-Eye. "But there'd be unnecessary mental damage and loads of variables, probably wouldn't go as you hoped. You should've distracted him at first, last thing he'd expect. Everyone would strike ―"

"_For a reason, right?_ Who in their right mind would answer an attack with sparkles?" she demanded to know. "They'd laugh at me!"

"That's the rub, isn't it?" growled Moody. "No one would. And he'd be stunned without any spell."

Tonks's jaw tightened, pulling her arms even tighter around herself.

"Fine." She looked around, searching for any kind of potential threat. "That couple right over there," she tilted her head to the side, indicating a couple of old people and grinning.

"Wouldn't need to move my feet to render them," he jeered. "Seriously, Ton ―"

"Appearance reverse," she smirked. "What if they're actually two people around my age and you've just revealed to everyone your identity."

"Doubt someone here already doesn't know who I am," he brought forth, pulling his bowler hat even lower, his electric blue eye searching for any kind of threat.

"Yeah, yeah, but what would you do if they were?" she repeated impatiently.

"They're coming to me, yeah?"

Tonks nodded.

"Circle them with blocking spells and then disarm, the minute it was possible. Dunno what they are, what they've been doing it."

"Good one," complimented Tonks.

Both Aurors continued with said pastime until the Weasley boys, Harry and Ginny came out into the corridor, allowing Mad-Eye and Tonks to enter, winking to George as she closed the door behind herself and the twin began to smirk.

"Arthur," greeted Moody with a curt nod.

"Mad-Eye. Tonks," replied the man with a smile.

"Wotcher, Arthur! Ready for another one?" she grinned and the Weasley chuckled, but Molly shot her such a reprimanding look that she decided to go straight to business, whispering to avoid any of Arthur's companions in the ward to overhear. "Kings called me this morning, I must've got to the Minister right after you were taken. He was commanding the operation and they searched the whole area but couldn't find the snake anywhere. It just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur … but You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?

"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," growled Mad-Eye, "'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had a lot more time to look around. So, Potter says he saw it all happen?"

"Yes," answered Molly, sounding rather uneasy. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this."

"Yeah, well," said Moody, "there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning," whispered Molly.

"Course he's worried," growled Mad-Eye almost impatient. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. Obviously Potter doesn't realise what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him, we're in a very tight spot. Nearly as good as having a spy amongst us."

Tonks felt her heart sank. She had certainly not thought about the possibility of Harry acting as if he was a spy for the Dark Lord; the connection Dumbledore had mentioned, so far seemed to her like a way for him to see Harry's thoughts in the worst case scenario. Her brows knitted as she bit her bottom lip, observing Mad-Eye watch them as though they should have realised that Harry Potter was a spy of You-Know-Who. Crossing her arms over her chest, Tonks slowly let go the breath she had not noticed that she had been holding; worse than that, only if Voldemort had managed to get an official member of the Order.

"Are you sure, Alastor?" asked Mrs Weasley. "Because Harry's just a boy and if ― then if ―"

"If what, eh, Molly?" growled Moody, trying to lower his voice. "Doubt he has a choice. His bond's with the Potter boy and he knows of what goes in the school, when Dumbledore's out doing something for the Order. He knows of Harry's knowledge on him and what he can use to defeat him."

"_But he's just a boy!_" bellowed Molly and Arthur held her forearm.

"Molly …"

"Watch it," Mad-Eye's electric blue eye seemed to attempt to see every single spot within a mile from them in all direction just to make no one knew what she had meant. "He may be just a boy for you, Molly, but he's not to the Dark Lord, he's a threat. If Dumbledore doesn't come up with a better idea, I say we tell him all we know. For his own safety. And the Order's."

The way back to the Headquarters went unusually quiet. The Weasleys children seemed to be more affected by their father's condition than Tonks thought they would be and she did not think that Molly asking if Harry was all right every quarter of hour would help with anything, but Mad-Eye's beliefs had got to her more than was able to hide even though was clear as day that Harry had been rather pale. Tonks had definitely underestimated the boy's relation with the Weasleys; Arthur was undeniably like a father to him.

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><p>When Remus entered the ward of the hospital later that day, he encountered not only Arthur Weasley but also his son, Bill, sitting beside the bed. The two of them seemed to be chatting happily at the moment, albeit quietly.<p>

"Afternoon, Arthur," greeted Remus. "Bill."

Bill nodded curtly.

"Remus, it's good to see you," replied Arthur.

"Good to see _you_ in one piece," Remus smiled somewhat.

Arthur shook his head with a half-smile.

"It's all right," he assured him. "Almost going home; as soon as they find a way for me to stop bleeding when they try to change the bandages, that is."

Remus raised his brows in surprise. Losing big amounts of blood could never be a good sign.

"Been taking the potion, though, to replace it until they find a way to stop the bleeding. Will be home in time for the holidays, I bet."

"Those are wonderful news," Remus nodded his approval. "I'm glad to know that you'll be as good as new."

"Yeah, the chap over there was not as lucky," he tilted his head to the other man lying on a bed across the room. "Werewolf bite."

Remus suck in a breath, sudden grief coming to his chest when he thought of the life the man had lost and all the issues he would have ahead of him and how quick he would have to adjust for the Wizarding society would not go easy on him just because he was new in that.

"Do you think you could …" Arthur indicated the man with a tilt of his head one more time, "talk to him? I tried, wasn't exactly lucky to be honest."

Lupin nodded, swallowing hard as he walked over, wondering if there was anything that he could say that would make his adjustment any easier.

"Mind if I …?" Remus indicated the empty chair, trying to take him back from his reverie.

The man looked at him briefly before shrugging nearly imperceptibly and returned his gaze to the blank wall beside his bed.

Remus sat down, choosing his words very carefully and cleared his throat, but before he could say the first word, the man spoke.

"If you're here to tell me that I can live a normal life, I'll tell you the same thing I told the lad over there earlier: I'll bite you!"

Shaking his head subtly, Remus kept his gaze upon the floor.

"Wouldn't make a difference."

The man seemed to have finally woken up and looked at Remus, as if deciding if he really was a lycanthrope or not.

"You're the lad he started to go on about then."

"Most likely," answered Remus. "Doubt Arthur knows any other lycanthropes personally. I'm Remus Lupin."

"The one who leads an almost normal life?" he mocked.

"That would be me."

"Tell me then, do you have a beautiful woman waiting you at home?" He narrowed his eyes, looking deeply into Remus's. "Kids running around the house calling you Daddy? Friends that owl you at night for a drink? A nice job, huh?"

Remus found himself without a choice to say anything but the truth for sooner or later he would realise just how much society despised werewolves.

"No, I do not."

"Then don't tell me how in Merlin's name do you live _an almost normal life!_"

Though, in spite of it all, Remus had not yet given up, he was not quite sure as to why, but he had found strength within to keep going.

"I was a little boy when I was bitten, but I went to Hogwarts, I made friends there, _real_ friends. My friends may not owl me at night for some drinks," he said, feeling suddenly brave, "and that I am sure it's only because they cannot, but they _do_ care. "They're concerned about my well-being and they do make me feel better. I'm one of them."

The man snorted at that, looking away from him.

"I may not have a job, but I've had some," Remus continued despite the man's disbelief. "I even taught at Hogwarts for a year before the truth about my affliction went out. I've had a few Muggle ones as well."

"Only to be sacked three weeks later, right?"

"I have managed more, nearly three months once," Remus informed him. "Point is, can be done, but you have to choose if you will do so. Requires bravery, I know, but it's not at all impossible."

A curt nod from the man indicated for him that he was not willing to take any more opinions on that matter; he obviously just wanted to be left to suffer in peace and Remus knew too much about that feeling to dare to bother him any longer with tiny hopes of a slightly better life than the one he pictured for himself. He got up and started to go towards Arthur's bed, but before he had given two steps, he heard the man's voice.

"I'm Falco, Adrian Falco."

"Nice to meet you."

Remus offered Adrian a nod and before long had said his farewell to Bill and Arthur for the Mediwitch had just entered the ward in order to bring Arthur his Blood-Replenishing Potion. A few moments later, as he re-entered the Lupin Bungalow and saw the rather mess he left behind whilst he searched for something to gift a certain pink-haired witch, he was sure that he had people in his life that cared about him. He had made the dreadful mistake of distrusting Sirius's friendship and he knew better than to distrust it once more. Even though having a real family as Adrian had described was completely out of his reach, he had the certainty that he was not alone. He had friends, friends like very few are lucky to ever find and although they were just a few, they were the ones that really mattered, the ones he truly needed.


	31. 30 Meaning

**A/N1:** Hi, everyone! Blimey! This chapter is much longer than I thought it would be (the longest so far), so that's why it took me longer than planned to write. I've posted a new fanfic, it's called 'Coincidence, is it?' but you better read this chapter before because there a few minor spoilers there. And who's excited for Pottermore? My goodness I can barely think properly! xD

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 30: Meaning<strong>

'Not exactly safe, is it?'

A comment from Mundungus Fletcher across the table had been more than enough to set Sirius Black's nerves on fire and pushed himself on his feet, eyes glaring at the ginger's an instant after his palms had socked the wooden table. His dark blue orbs made clear for whoever knew him slightly better that, in his point of view, he had been complaining without any reason to do so.

'**If you hadn't noticed**,' stormed Sirius, '**it never was!**'

'Now now, Black,' said a sly voice not far from Sirius. 'Talking about something you don't know?'

Sirius's eyes narrowed until his gaze met Snape's and he sucked in a breath.

'I'll have you know, _Snivellus_, that it's not―'

'Enough, Sirius!' came the calm voice of the headmaster, stressing the first word. 'We are all completely aware of the risks we're forced to take and we have judged them worthy otherwise we would not be standing here on a Friday night when I am sure all of you would have better events to be attending besides a meeting of the Order, so if you please.'

A muscle in Sirius's jaw tightened as he forced himself to obey and sat back in his chair, but his eyes did not leave Snape's until he had adjusted himself in his seat and Dumbledore re-started to speak, allowing Tonks to search for Remus's eyes and the two of them exchanged a nervous look for a short instant while the other members of the Order were all suddenly occupied with watching the kitchen's tiles or analysing the rate of growth of their own fingernails.

It was Mad-Eye who spoke first.

'And what we're gonna do about the Potter boy, huh?' he asked, looking at the headmaster with his normal eye, his electric one rolling upwards to where Tonks was sure to be the room Harry ought to be.

'Meaning, Alastor?' questioned Dumbledore, narrowing his blue eyes.

'We can't have him in our midst, can we?' replied Moody promptly. 'As good as having a Death Eater that way, isn't it?'

'You didn't just call Harry a ― a ― a _Death Eater_!' cried Molly.

'I didn't, but he's―'

'He saved Arthur's life!' she pointed out.

'Mad-Eye, Molly's right,' affirmed Tonks. 'His new … _gift _or whatever it is this new ability he's got, it's useful.'

Moody's regular eye looked deeply into hers and both Aurors locked their gazes, guessing precisely what was going through the other's mind.

'We can't use Potter like this!' McGonagall spoke. 'Albus!' she called as though the headmaster was her last resource of coherent thought.

Dumbledore took his time to look around at all the eyes of the Order members fixed on him, with the sole exception of Mad-Eye's electric blue one, which remained on a certain room upstairs. He sighed, sitting back on his chair.

'He's not―'

But before Minerva could finish her sentence, the headmaster spoke again.

'There are a few possibilities we must take under consideration,' he said calmly to McGonagall's dismay, but the latter did nothing more than just narrowing her lips to the point when they nearly disappeared. 'I shall ponder over them and decide as soon as possible.' Dumbledore glanced around the occupants of the room, his gaze lingering upon Snape at last. 'And for now that's how we'll end the matter,' he stated.

Reports on the following days watching the prophecy were given and they discussed who would take the shifts of the next week before the headmaster ended the meeting, filling the kitchen with the sound of chairs being pushed as the members started to leave.

Lupin and Tonks had just passed by the kitchen door when Sirius made his way between them, carrying a box with a green content that he had taken from Merlin-knew-where and singing a Christmas carol. Both the Order members smiled at the sight of their dear friend happier than they had seen in the past six months.

'God rest ye merry, hippogriffs, let nothing you dismay,' began Sirius an instant before and Tonks chuckled.

'Rather amusing, isn't it?' asked Remus, smiling fondly at her to which she tilted her head, indicating her cousin.

'It gets better.'

Sirius had started putting some mistletoe in very strategic places up in the ceiling, singing merrily all the way.

'Amusing it'll be to see the kids managing to avoid them,' she brought forth. 'Too bad I won't be around to catch Ron and 'Mione under one of those. Take a picture for me if you come across them trapped, will you?'

'What?' Remus frowned. 'Ron and Herm―'

'Oh, come on, Remus! You're supposed to have taught them!'

'And I did!' he responded instantly, taken aback that she would choose to mock one of the rare few things he was rather proud of.

'And you didn't catch it?'

'Catch what?'

Tonks sighed, rolling her eyes playfully as she smiled.

'Never mind,' she said and started to walk towards the door. 'Cheers!'

'Wait!' he called at once, reaching for her, but not really touching her. 'I'll see you on Christmas Eve?' he questioned once she had swirled on her heels to meet his eyes.

'Um, I don't think so, Remus,' answered Tonks. 'I'll spend it with Mum and Dad.'

'Christmas Day?' he asked hopeful.

'Afraid not,' she shook her head. 'My gran'll make a huge Christmas lunch to gather the whole family together.'

'I see…' Remus sucked in a deep breath, obliging the corner of his lips to rise despite the tightness in his chest. He should have known that Tonks would spend Christmas with her family ― her _big_ family. She was not like him, a man who, save a couple of friends, had no one. Except― Well, it had been many years and he should leave it in the past.

'Tell you what,' she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the wall, 'I'll see you a couple days before,' she proposed. 'I've got to leave the kids' presents here either way.'

He nodded, feeling his smile become wider whilst his heart seemed to have become faster.

'See you then. Have a good night.'

'Good night!'

Remus watched her walk past the umbrella stand ― not hitting it by millimetres ― and waving a farewell to Sirius whilst the latter added yet another mistletoe to the ceiling. He did not know how she had managed to become so dear for him especially after such a short time ― well, a short time for him at least. Six months could be considered by a regular person as more than enough time to make a friend and indeed it would be. Remus Lupin however, was not a regular person, his lycanthropy made it all much more difficult for him since the great majority of wizards could barely meet his gaze whenever he revealed the truth about his affliction. He was so incredibly glad to have Nymphadora Tonks in his life for that witch had certainly brought colour to the misery he used to call life, she had accepted him as easily as the Marauders had so many years before. And it was with a fond smile spreading on his lips three days later that Remus heard her familiar voice a few minutes after she had entered the Grimmauld Place and joined Sirius towards the kitchen, where her voice was coming from.

On that morning, the Auror had woken up with a thrill that only grew bigger each and every time her mind wandered to the visit she would pay for the Headquarters later. Wherever she went, the fact that Christmas was nearing made itself known, which only made her grin wider; gifting had always been one of her favourite things to do. The green eyes and red hair she had chosen just before leaving towards the Grimmauld Place reminded her of someone, but she could not quite place the girl in her mind and merely shrugged the thought away, she had always been using someone's appearance during missions, could not be that different to choose Christmas colours and end up looking like a different person, especially when one was a Metamorphmagus.

The next minute, she was passing through the door whilst pointing her wand to a rather big heap of presents and leaving them across the room before heading towards the kitchen, where she was sure to meet one of the members. Though, the one she met there was not someone she was fond of and surely he felt the same way.

'May I offer you a Santa hat?' mocked Tonks.

She watched him stop folding the parchment in his hands and turn around slowly, his nose becoming notable to her before anything else in his features. And she could still see his bored expression before it was suddenly replaced by shock.

It seemed that for a whole minute, Snape stared perplexed at her, barely breathing and so stunned that Tonks would not be surprised if someone, at that moment, came from behind the Potions Master and admitted to have hexed him. Puzzled, Tonks blinked a couple of times as he hurried past her, not making a sound and looking like as though he would rather be anywhere in the world, but there with her.

'All right?' grinned Sirius appearing all of a sudden behind her, but when she turned around, Tonks noticed that he was accompanied by Remus and both stopped, looking at her nearly frightened.

'All right,' she answered before turning around to look at them. 'Always knew Snape was mean and biased, but I'd never think of him as― _What_?' she questioned upon seeing both of the Marauders glancing at her as scared as Snape was not a minute before.

'You…' Pointing at her, Sirius seemed unable to produce more complex sounds other than the murmurs he was emitting.

Remus recomposed himself after a short instant, pitying her naïveté and clearing his throat before gesturing towards her hair.

'You, um … You look― You look like Lily, Tonks,' he informed her, 'and Snape was friends with her.'

The differences were well visible: the brightness in her eyes, bigger cheeks and Lily's nose was definitely thinner, but other than that, if he did not know better, Tonks could have looked at a photo of his late friend and morphed herself not long ago.

He then saw some of the colour in Tonks's cheeks disappear and she looked at them as though she was the worst person on the Earth, which he knew for a fact, not to be true. The sound of her desperate apologies filled the room next and he kept nodding at her, assuring her that everything was okay, that she did not mean to, so they could not blame her for it, but she did not understand. Remus did not know if he truly wanted it or if it was a desperate need to change the subject and start talking about something else ― anything for he could not tolerate thinking about them any longer.

'And what about those?' asked Sirius eyeing the presents that had been on the other room's floor and smirking what Remus hoped to be a true smirk.

With a flick of her wand, Tonks levitated all the packages together one more time and started to walk away, watching where she was going for a second before looking up to her cousin to finally see his mischievous smirk. 'Oh, I know what you want! And don't even think about it!' Tonks shook her head fiercely.

'Come on, cuz!' bargained Sirius. 'Just three days from now!'

'You're wasting your time, mate,' she let him know. 'Wraps have a spell to keep the nosy away. Christmas day, no sooner.'

'Why?'

'Keep complaining and I'll make sure yours is Boxing Day.'

With a dramatic, surprised face, Sirius stopped, grabbing her arm to stop her from tripping over the first step of the stairs. He sighed before walking away murmuring 'I would never...' when a chuckle from a man not far from her, called Tonks's attention and she beamed at him.

'Promised you I'd come, didn't I?'

'Indeed you did,' he confirmed, following her up the stairs.

'Cost me some hours of sleep to get these ready this early, though.' She tilted her head towards the pile of presents.

'I'm sorry,' he added promptly as guiltiness came suddenly at his selfish action of merely wanting to see her and wish her a very good Christmas.

'Told you already; you gotta stop apologising, Remus,' she reminded him. 'Besides, I wanted to come― Aha!'

Remus sucked in a breath to stop himself from asking for forgiveness yet again as they entered the drawing-room with the Christmas tree Sirius had set up the days before in which he was in such a great mood that he barely noticed his godson hiding from all human contact for nearly two days. He approached as Tonks had begun to put all the packages under tree, humming a few bars of a song he recognised, but could not recall precisely which one was, most likely had been heard by him on the radio throughout the last fortnight.

'Need help?'

'Oh, no, I got it,' she grinned at him before turning her back to him once again and organising a few more packages. 'Reckon I can trust Kreacher to deliver this right, can't I?'

'I suppose,' he answered. 'Sirius says he hasn't seen him in a while, though.' For a heartbeat, Remus wondered if he should offer her to do it since she would not be able to come to the Headquarters at Christmas. 'But― Well, if you― if you wanted I coul―'

'Here you go!' She swirled on her heels quickly to face him with a package and handing it to him.

'Tonks...' breathed Remus, keeping his eyes at the parcel in his hands. When was the last time he had been given a present at Christmas? He supposed that what he had received from his colleagues a couple of years before at Hogwarts did not count; those were no more than simple common courtesy. But someone, out of the mere fact that they liked him, even if just a tiny little bit, present him with a gift ... despite the fact that he had gone through some trouble to get said person a rather special gift himself ... She should not have been bothered. 'You didn't have to...'

'That's the whole point of Christmas, isn't it?' she shrugged with a half-smile. 'Nobody has to do anything; they do it because they want to,' finished Tonks matter-of-factly an instant before her attention was caught by something green and she lifted up her gaze to properly see it. 'Except...' she remarked as Remus too looked up and saw the mistletoe. Gradually, her eyes went down from the ceiling to the man before her; her eyes scanning him for a while longer than actually needed. Smart, kind and brave; Remus was indeed a nice bloke and being able to say that they had snogged under a mistletoe once would be at least a good laugh.

With his breath caught in his throat, Remus did not dare to lower his eyes for a moment. On that spot, he hated Sirius's immaturity. What had he done? His little cousin could be forced to admit that she had kissed a werewolf and Merlin only knew what could happen with her reputation, surely not anything good.

'Kiss me, Remus.' Neither strict nor rigorous. But her voice sounded to him as simple as giving a command.

Certain that he could not postpone it any longer, he lowered his gaze to hers. The same twinkle he had come to recognise in whichever disguise she chose to wear was rather more playful and he finally released his breath, taking some time to suck in another one. She could not possibly want to kiss him, that was one utterly mad idea. She did not have to kiss him, that was a stupid idea from Sirius and a wonderful girl like Dora should not have to deal with such hard consequences because of his imprudence.

'It doesn't have to mean anything.'

Having noticed his hesitation, Tonks added her sentence. Though nice and all, she was well aware that Remus was over a decade older than her and the fact that he was unsure of it could only be due the fact that he thought she would expect from him more than just a kiss afterwards, but honestly, all she expected was a peck on her lips to free them both from, what was starting to become, an awkward position.

Didn't have to mean anything? Since when a man pressing his lips against a woman's did not mean something? Kisses were meaningful. Remus could not help but to find her rather naive for thinking that society would not look down at her for something like that. He had been the worst kind within their eyes for decades; he knew exactly how it would affect her and he knew then that he would do just about anything to stop it from happening.

Tonks watched as he leant towards her, neither fearful nor hesitant, but determined to do as he wanted to. Just when she closed her eyes in anticipation of the kiss, Remus pressed his lips against her cheek and looked back at her, smiling what seemed to be a proud smile, if she did not know better. Her heart sped up and her mouth went dry. What was she expecting, really? Did she really think he would kiss her? She had just become his dead friend and expected to be kissed by a man of the likes of Remus Lupin. He did not like her and probably never would in spite of her morphing earlier. She was still Sirius's little cousin and most likely would not stop being seeing as such by him. She did not know what she was still doing there, he had just given the proof that he would never ever kiss her and clearly the best thing to do, would be to vanish the faster and she would and so she Disapparated.

Remus nearly gasped at her Disapparition. Was she upset? But why would she be? He had found the perfect way out, one that would allow her to keep on going with her life without having it stained by a stupid mistletoe. Only then he noticed his fingers clutching to a parcel and realised that he had been holding the Christmas present she had given him. Remus hesitated. He knew that if it was up to Sirius, he would have unwrapped it already, but then he remembered she had mentioned the wraps were protected until Christmas, so Sirius would most likely be utterly frustrated if he was him.

Sighing, he walked to his bedroom, leaving the parcel on top of the commode and opened the second drawer until the end, where lied a small package, but still carefully packed. He got it in his hand, rolling it round a few times, cherishing how special it was and wondering why somehow she seemed to be mad at him as well as why his chest seemed to be so tightened.

Not far from there, Tonks grunted to the air the instated she Apparated at her flat. An annoyed hoot from Penates near the window made her walk towards him and feed him some treats, but nervous as she was, she ended up knocking down his pot and sending all the treats all around the floor, which did nothing to ease her humour.

'**Eat there if you want it **_**so badly**_**!**' she yelled at the bird, but Penates merely flew out the window a second after giving her a look. Tonks then walked over and closed the pane. If he did not wish to be inside then he would not be.

Not bothering with dinner, she went to her room, donning her pyjamas and warming herself under the covers. Remus was Sirius's best friend. The very last one. Did she really expect him to kiss her under a silly mistletoe? She was terribly wrong to assume he would and in spite of how fast her heart was beating then, she could not help but to think that Remus had been a real gentleman whereas she must have looked like a puppy seeking for attention. Exhaling heavily, she shook her head. There was nothing she could do about it, there was no point in dwelling on it.

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><p>Christmas Eve arrived with a rather high amount of snow covering the streets of London. The house of the Tonkses behold a fair amount of Christmas ornaments, Dora could see her dad still insisting that they would keep the spirit of the holidays and Andromeda agreeing happily with him; she figured his enthusiastic way about some things was one of the reasons that made her mother love him so much. She was glad to not need to work on that day nor on the following one, but all that had cost her and Savage to sacrifice their New Year's party, it just meant however, that they would need to make a private party for themselves right there in the Ministry.<p>

'Hi, Dad,' she greeted as her father opened the door.

'Dora.' He kissed her forehead tenderly after closing the door behind her.

'Hey, Mum!' she shouted to the kitchen where her mother had been by the cooker already working on their lunch.

'Hello, darling,' greeted Andromeda with a smile.

'What we having for lunch?' grinned Tonks, coming closer to her mother and taking in the smell of the wonderful food.

Andromeda frowned at the hand her daughter had reached for the nearly ready turkey.

'Will you wait until it's cooked?' Although it sounded like a question, Tonks knew better than to read it as such.

'Fine,' said Tonks, careful to not let her mother catch the disappointed tone in her voice for she could almost hear Andromeda's thoughts. _You're worse than your father._

That day went as well as the Auror had expected, after the wonderful turkey, they had tasted a marvellous pudding and enjoyed an extremely rare day of peace whilst listening to Christmas carols, which could be considered delightful songs especially when alternative was to hear Celestina Warbeck singing to the top of her lungs with her voice out of tune. It seemed as though the incident with Arthur Weasley had put the Death Eaters on alert. The Order of the Phoenix knew that they were aware that they knew of each other's actions beneath the Ministry of Magic's nose, but only now they were sure of what the Order was capable of, even though finding Arthur only a few minutes after the attack had occurred had been no more than luck due to Harry's ability to somehow see what was happening to him and alert the headmaster as soon as he could.

Christmas Day for her could have been very similar to the day before, if it were not to the fact that they were now surrounded by several Muggles and listening to Muggle Christmas carols instead of Wizarding ones. Amazing food ― with a few of her cousins arriving late but in time for the Sticky Toffee Pudding ― was preceded by exchanging gifts and smiles after seeing what they had been given. Her parents had presented her with a new set of cookware (and it was clear for her that Andromeda had been the one to chose it), a thick manual about Wand Safety from Mad-Eye, a new wand holster from Savage, a dragon hide jacket from her friend Liv back in Romania, a cauldron of the best Reinvigorating Potion from Rachel and a Wizarding camera. It had always been a real problem to try and hide all her gifts from her Muggle relatives since they were not allowed to know more about the Wizarding World than necessary and for them she was no more than the cousin who dyed her hair a different, almost annoying, bold colour every week. At that night, she was arriving home with full arms, thinking that even though she probably had spent more galleons on the gifts she had bought than the ones she had received, she had not regretted a single purchase; that was the purpose of Christmas. It all changed though, when she saw the largest package of the night right in front of her maroon door; attached to it there was a short note that read:

_An orange cat told me you still ride a Comet 260 and honestly, I have too many galleons in my vault so I decided to get this beauty from the first allotment for you._

_Merry Christmas, Nymphie!_

_Your favourite cousin,_

_Siri_

_PS: You have a smart owl! Effing bird just showed up when I was trying to figure how to send this to you since Hedwig shouldn't fly carrying something so large._

Tonks's gaze went slowly from the note to the package as her brain connected the dots.

_No…_

Was it really?

... Could it be?

Tonks found herself nearly jumping upon the package, unwrapping it as fast as her fingers allowed her to. She did not need more than just a few seconds to have exposed a brand new Nimbus 2005 before her.

'Shite.'

It was. Sirius had indeed spent several hundreds of Galleons on her, which only made her wander just how big was the pile of the golden coins in his vault. Surely he had not got her a Firebolt, so she could not think of it as that much of gold, but that Nimbus would already make her Comet look more than obsolete. She barely knew where to look. The broomstick was perfect. From one end to the other, Tonks could not find an inch that seemed out of place. More than a few minutes passed with her admiring every inch of it until she realised that she should enter the flat before someone found her standing in the corridor with not only her new broom, but all the presents she had been given that Christmas as well. A while later, as she sipped on a cup of tea and sat on the couch merely watching the broom from afar, she could only think of one word to define it all. Surreal.

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><p>Over a decade had passed since Remus had won his last Christmas present, excluding of course, the year he had spent as a professor at Hogwarts for that year had certainly been atypical. His colleagues definitely thought they had some sort of moral obligation to present him with something and even he himself had bought some minor things just not let the day pass without giving them something. But when he woke up that morning, he realised that he was not disappointed to see naught near his bed's foot. His heart began to beat faster however when his eyes glanced at the package Tonks had given him a couple of days before.<p>

He sat upright taking it in his hands and testing its weight for an instant before starting to open it carefully. It revealed a box to a Wizard's Chess Set which left Remus open-mouthed without even opening it. The drawings upon the box showed that it was not only a regular set, it could be adapted to change into a multilevel Wizard's Chess. Even though he had never been passionate about the game, he could not help but to realise that she must have put a lot of thought into it, probably as much as he had put into hers. His eyes darted to the package that was lying upon the bedside table. He was all too aware that she deserved so much more than the content of that package, but unfortunately, it was all he could give her. A small note that simply read '_Merry Christmas, Remus!_' was attached to the side of the box by a Sticking Charm and he kept it in the top drawer of his bedside table.

Remus dressed himself knowing that shortly after the kids would be running around the Grimmauld Place displaying their brand new possessions. That would be enough to be the best Christmas morning he could have expected. He walked through the door and as he got a hold of the doorknob to close it, Remus felt a piece of parchment attached to it. Looking down, Remus saw an envelope with a broken seal from the Wizarding Instruments Supplies and took a note from inside it.

_MERRY CHRISTMAS, MOONY!_

_Wasn't sure which books you had got in all these years so decided to get you something else. You're a hard bloke to buy for, ever told you that? You never seem to want anything, but I figured you could use some fun. Bet you're a bit rusty, but you'll need practise to change that, so enjoy!_

_The best friend you could ever have,_

_Padfoot_

He looked inside the envelope and saw another piece of parchment inside, with a more official aspect.

_Dear Mr Lupin,_

_We're pleased to inform you that your order of the black Grand Piano IV (206 cm x 146 cm) was successful. We received your gold and would like to remind you that you have up to the 15__th__ of the next month to withdraw your purchase. Please, do not forget to have this order with you as well as your ID._

_Emanuel Hitchens_

_Manager of the Wizarding Instruments Supplies_

Sirius was barking mad.

Remus went straight to the kitchen, where he knew the person he was looking for would be and he could not be more right.

'Happy Christmas, Sirius.'

'Happy Christmas!' greeted Sirius, holding a mug with hot liquid up above his head and donning what seemed to be a brand new robe. 'Fancy, aren't they?' He looked down to himself and his new robes to make sure Remus knew what he was talking about.

'Yes, they are.' He sighed as Sirius continued to not pay enough attention to him. 'Listen, Sirius, mate,' he started gazing at the parchment in his hand.

'Have you seen Kreacher lately?' questioned Sirius absentmindedly.

Remus pondered for a second whether he had seen the house-elf in the last few days and shook his head.

'I can't take this,' he added eventually, handing Sirius the parchment and finally gathering the courage to look at him.

'Sure you can,' he replied turning around to the sink, 'and some hot cocoa too. Molly just made it, you want some?'

'No, thank you.' Remus did his best to not exhale heavily. 'Padfoot,' he called, 'please?'

'What?' Sirius turned around again facing him, pantomiming ignorance. 'Tea?'

'You know what,' he answered opening his palm and offering the parchment to Sirius one more time.

'Sorry, it's not here yet, Crookshanks just got back and I had to hurry, but, Moony, my friend,' began Sirius before sipping on his tea and crossing an arm across his chest. 'You know I've got loads of gold. More than I care to count and basically I can't use it―'

'That's momentary.'

'―so do me a favour, yeah? Enjoy it. If you don't fancy playing it anymore, sell it. Buy yourself some new robes or enough books for the rest of your life― Hell! Get a pro to treat you properly, I don't give a shite what you do with it― Don't want any report back from you. Just _enjoy_, all right?'

'It's―'

'And, please, don't try to ruin my Christmas morning any longer.'

Remus breathed deeply, still trying to come up with something to say that would convince Sirius to stay with the piano, but he was already out the door and Remus was sure that he would feel much worse if he ruined Sirius's Christmas than if he decided to accept a much appreciated gift. An odd feeling in his chest refused to leave completely however. He had received amazing presents from both Sirius and Tonks but the minute he stopped to think, his mind would go straight to the look upon her face when he kissed her cheek instead of her lips. Each time that happened, he became more convinced that she was upset when she left all of a sudden; he was just not entirely sure as to why. Was it him? Was it herself? Was she disgusted with herself for even considering the possibility of kissing him? Molly and the twins ― both of them wearing new jumpers with their initials knitted on them ― entered the kitchen then, taking him from his musings.

'Merry Christmas, Remus,' she said with a smile.

'Merry Christmas, Molly,' he replied mirroring her smile as she poured herself a cup of hot cocoa. 'Merry Christmas, Fred, George.'

'Happy Christmas, Lupin!' grinned the twins at the very same time and moved to help themselves with some toasts.

'They're nearer to find the cure,' she brought forth from the cooked where she had begun to boil some eggs, 'to Arthur, I mean. He won't have to stay there much longer, I reckon.'

'That's great news. He's feeling better, I suppose,' inferred Remus.

'Yes,' she nodded. 'Yes, he is. If it wasn't for the blee―'

Molly was interrupted by a sound coming from the window and both of them, looked at it instantly.

'Merlin, it's Hermes!' exclaimed Molly as she ran to let an owl, which carried a large package, come inside.

The owl dropped the package in her hands and left without another glance at her. Molly hesitated for a moment before opening it with rather shaky hands and Fred and George walked to her side to see what it was all about. The moment she saw what had been inside the package she burst into tears.

'It's― It's― _his __**jumper**_!'

Remus needed a second to realise who she had meant by his, but George had been quick to hold his mother as Fred grabbed the package from her hands, throwing it upon one of the mismatched chairs and kept rubbing one of her arms as she began to sob.

'Mum, it's okay,' mumbled George. 'He isn't worth one of your jumpers.'

'Yeah,' said Fred. 'He's nothing more than a humungous pile of rat droppings.'

In hearing that, Molly started to sob even harder and Remus walked over to her, glaring at the twins and they quickly left the kitchen.

'Molly, he'll come around,' Remus assured her and as she did not answer, he continued. 'He'll come around and he'll beg you forgiveness, he'll beg you for one of the famous Weasley jumpers.'

Molly seemed to be getting some control over her breathing then.

'They won't be able to keep themselves in the dark for much longer. They need to act and people will start to notice. I reckon they're already starting to come around. Berta Jorkins, Cedric Diggory, Sturgis Podmore even Arthur! How long do you think it'll take for everyone to do the math, huh?' He helped her wipe away her tears. 'Percy is a smart bloke, he _will_ come around.'

The smell of something burnt came to them then and Molly's eyes went completely wide.

'My goodness! The eggs!'

'It's okay,' Remus said, letting her go.

'How could I ― ?'

'It's all right. I'll take care of it, Molly.'

He walked over and got rid of the burnt eggs, fetching a few more and starting to cook them.

'Thank you, Remus,' chocked Molly.

'Don't mention it,' replied Remus from the cooker.

After a quick breakfast, he entered the drawing-room, leaving Molly to have some privacy in the kitchen, where she stayed until lunch was ready, when she suggested that they went to visit Arthur one more time with the kids and Remus agreed to escort them there with Mad-Eye, who had come to join them. Mundungus appeared in time for the pudding and trifle with a car he claimed to be borrowed since the Underground did not run on Christmas. The car, Remus perceived later, had a spell to make it much larger on the inside and the eleven of them fit perfectly to a nice drive to the hospital.

The visit was going smoothly until Molly discovered Arthur had attempted to sew his skin together allied with one of the younger mediwizards supporter of Muggle methods, when Remus conveniently choose to have a little chat with Adrian Falco and the all the others decided to go and have some tea, to which Mad-Eye kept his electric blue eye, rolling inside his head, certainly following Harry's steps with it.

At the sound of Molly's shouts, Remus discovered that Falco had received some presents from somewhat distant relatives who had heard what had happened to him and used Christmas to send him their condolences. Remus simply hoped for that to not be the last time Falco would ever hear from them.

By the end of the day, Remus could consider though, that year's Christmas as the best one in a very long time, followed closely of course, by the only one he had had the chance to spend as a professor at Hogwarts, despite not knowing that the only thing that would easy his mind somewhat was the perspective of an Order meeting two days subsequent to that.

Said Order meeting had the extra goal of organising how they would take Harry back to Hogwarts. Once it was clear that the chance of the Death Eaters trying something once their most recent plan to attack an Order member had failed, was rather small, they were set with three of them escorting the kids, despite Mad-Eye's insistence that they had at least five. The only problem they still had, was the transportation method.

'Brooms, isn't it the best?' suggested Tonks who was keen to have a decent chance to try her new Nimbus at its fastest since her only chance until then had been on the very first night she got it, during the first hours of the morning when it was safer to not be seen by Muggles, but it did not last long for she had to watch the prophecy with Deddalus, which turned out to be really lucky for he had been able to keep her laughing all night and thus not sad, wishing she could be flying.

'Can't use the same strategy all the time, can we?' growled Mad-Eye. 'Besides, we'd need a whole day to fly all the way to Scotland.'

Tonks stopped a sad moan from escaping her lips and nodded, it would need to be postponed a while longer.

'Hermione returned with the Knight Bus,' pointed out Molly. 'Reckon it'd be enough for them all.'

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes as he stared into hers, analysing the situation for a short instant and apparently he was not contrary to the idea since he then looked around the table and asked, 'Is anyone opposed to Molly's suggestion?' As only a few members shook their heads and none of them said a word, he continued, 'Very well. Alastor and Nymphadora will leave the Headquarters at nine in the morning of the second of January. You have used the Knight Bus' services, I trust.'

The three of them nodded and the headmaster smiled.

'I await them at the school's gate at eleven. The meeting is now ended and I hope all of you had an excellent Christmas.'

Remus watched as Tonks, a couple of chairs away from him, jumped to her feet and hurried to the door, waving a goodbye to which Sirius answered with a smile. Perhaps she really was upset with him, but Remus still could not find within himself to change his mind about what had happened with them under the mistletoe. At that moment he decided, the very next time he saw her, he would properly apologise to her.

He figured it would be on New Year's Eve, but as she had not shown up, he supposed she had chosen to spend it with her family once again. He was not sure why he frequently needed these reminders that she had a life outside the Order and the Grimmauld Place, with a job and a loving family.

On the first day of the year, Remus had been with Sirius (trying out his new Wizard's Chess set) and Molly (reading last month's Witch Weekly) in the drawing-room ― one of the rare moments in the past few days in which Sirius had not been hiding himself up in his mother's room with Buckbeak, upset for the kids' holidays to be nearing its end and thus his time with them ― when the doorbell hang and Mrs Black's shouts echoed in the house. They exchanged a quick, curious look before Molly went to undo the several magical locks and Remus and Sirius joined their forces to rapidly shut up the portrait.

'Good evening, Mrs Weasley,' greeted a silky voice that made both of them look directly towards the hall.

'Snivellus,' lisped Sirius.

'Well well, Black, finished cleaning the house, have you?'

Snape narrowed his eyes, smirking.

'Evening, Severus,' greeted Remus as he tried to calm his friend down.

'Lupin,' Snape seemed glad to not have to look at Sirius anymore, 'your potion will be ready by the end of the week. You know, members of the Order do what is expected from them, which for most is more than simply cleaning.'

'What d'you want?' enquired Sirius. 'There's no meeting so if you don't have something important to do here, you can get the hell out of _my_ house!'

'I'm here under Dumbledore's orders,' explained Snape. 'I must speak with Potter and believe me, I'd rather not have to deal with this. Now if you excuse me, I can't stay long.'

'I― I'll call him,' informed Molly who seemed paralysed up to then and she went to the stairs gladly not have to be in the room with them anymore.

'What do you want with Harry?' questioned Sirius.

'That's between Potter and me as the headmaster himself instructed me,' announced Snape walking towards the kitchen.

Remus began to walk away to the stairs for he did not think Sirius would disobey one more of Dumbledore's rules.

'You are _not_ to stay alone with him!'

'Sirius―' warned Remus.

'You may do as you please in that cacky dungeon of yours, but this is my house!'

'Sirius, please―' Remus called again.

'Keep pointing it out, Black, makes you feel important, doesn't it?'

'I'm not going, Moony!' he stated and ran to the kitchen and Remus could hear the sound of a chair being pulled and cracking slightly under Sirius's weight.

Remus climbed the staircase back to the drawing-room for he did not wish to disobey Dumbledore after he owned him so much and whatever happened between Sirius and Severus would be sure to destroy the little good mood he had had in that night and Remus doubted Sirius would want anyone else's company rather than Buckbeak's. About an hour later, he was called to have dinner and found out that Arthur had been back, completely cured. Moody had joined them to offer his congratulations and Mundungus was apparently trying to figure out what to do with the loads of free time he had in his hands lately. Both of them bid their goodbyes shortly after dinner for Mad-Eye had to go to the Hall of the Prophecy and reminded Mundungus that he had to come early in the morning so Moody could come to the Grimmauld Place and accompany them in escorting the kids back to Hogwarts.

Once dinner was finished, Remus followed Sirius up to the last landing and allowed his best friend to pretend he was not being followed, but instead of reaching to his room's doorknob, he swirled on his heels to face Remus.

'He's teaching him, Moony!' Sirius restrained himself from shouting. 'Occlumency!'

'Severus will teach Harry―'

'Yes!' he cut him off. 'Dumbledore'll let the berk bat teach Occlumency to Harry! Some crap about teaching Harry to defend himse― Harry _can_ defend himself!'

'Not against this kind of attack, no, he can't. If he did, he wouldn't have seen Arthur being attacked and you and I know that he knows more than he ought to about the Order.'

'He's James's son!'

'I know, Sirius, but you have got to admit that Snape is the best Occlumens we know. If someone can help Harry wit―'

'He can be a _superb_ Occlumens for all I care!' Remus doubted that Sirius would be able to keep from shouting much longer. 'He will use this to get inside Harry's head ― mess up with him _and I can't do a bloody thing about it_!'

'Padfoot, Dumbledore trusts him, we might as well―'

'**Dumbledore doesn't know everything!**' Sirius finally burst.

'SHAME OF MY FLESH! MY POOR HOUSE! EVERY CORNER OF MY POOR HOUSE IS DIRTIED!'

'So stop worshipping him! Now I'm gonna find something to do that will actually help Harry get through this!'

Remus let his breath out in a sigh, staring at Sirius's door shutting close before he made his way down the stairs to stop Mrs Black from calling everyone names.

* * *

><p>The first day of school and the first day back were always the most hectic for Remus back in the years he had been in Hogwarts as a student. He was not surprised to be reminded of it yet again. He was in the kitchen finishing his breakfast when a tall, tweedy woman with iron-grey hair entered the door looking uneasy, though she still had a familiar twinkle in her beautiful brown eyes. Well, he had never really given too much thought into it, but Tonks did have beautiful eyes however they looked like.<p>

'Remus, I need a favour.'

He blinked a couple of times. Everything that had happened the night before had practically erased the apology he had ready for her.

'F-From me?'

'Well, yeah…' Resisting the impulse of making a joke of him being the only Remus she knew and the only one in the room, she rolled her eyes coming to sit beside him. 'Molly's with Arthur 'cause it's his first day back. Dung hasn't shown up. Elphias had to go to work so Mad-Eye has to stay there a while longer and I need someone to do the shift with me later.' She bit her lip, her breathing coming in slow pants. 'Would you mind?'

'By no means.' Remus shook his head, pulling a chair for her. 'I'll go with you.'

'Thank you.' She offered a smile that did not quite reach her eyes, but she seemed more relieved as she sat beside him. 'Mad-Eye's cheesed off. Messaged me this morning.'

'He's not coming then?' supposed Remus.

Tonks let out her breath slowly and then shook her head.

'Just you and me,' she whispered and started fidgeting with her hands on her lap as she remembered how the Patronus woke her up and she was suddenly nervous about not having her mentor and clung to every word he said, before continuing just as low, 'He kept reminding me of the details, gather them all together in one deck, don't let the driver take too long―'

'It'll be all right,' assured Remus, staring at the wood of the table before him as he tried to recall just what he had been planning to tell her for the past week. 'Tonks,' he muttered tentatively, 'about that day,' he turned to look her in the eye, 'under the mistletoe―'

'Remus, don't,' breathed Tonks.

'Please, listen―'

'No, I shouldn't've―'

The sound of the doorknob turning made both of them look round hastily. At that moment, Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the kitchen to have breakfast, forcing Tonks to stop her say. Better that way.

After they had had their rushed breakfast, Tonks went upstairs to fetch Ginny. The door was opened and she saw the girl shimming her trainers.

'Loved it?' asked Tonks, smirking.

'Loved it!' grinned Ginny an instant after turning her head around to see who was there and realising that the Auror was talking about The Weird Sisters' album she had been given at Christmas. 'Thank you so much, Tonks. It's brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!'

'Glad you liked it,' she chuckled. 'What's your favourite? This Is The Night?' asked Tonks with a slightly menacing look.

'Um...' Ginny raised both her eyebrows and pursed her lips in sorrow. 'Amazing! It is, but―'

'Please don't tell me it's Magic Works.'

Tonks rubbed two of her fingers upon her temple.

'No!' The Weasley furrowed her brows. 'Too slow and cheesy. Blinding Spell. That's a right _perfect_ song!'

Tonks sighed smiling.

'I'll forgive you 'cause it's fighting for second in my list,' she chuckled, checking her watch. 'Now come on, Gin. It's late, we've got to go.'

Ginny tied her laces and both of them hurried downstairs with Tonks floating Ginny's trunk behind her. She should not have waited to chat about Ginny's gift whilst they were in the Knight Bus, but she could not stop herself and thus they had lost some vital minutes. At the hall she found Sirius hugging Harry with Remus already waiting for them outside with Hermione and the other Weasleys. Once her cousin let go off his godson, Tonks deftly shunted Harry out the door into the winter morning, chivvying him down the steps.

'Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better,' she asserted looking around the street rather nervous.

Remus flung out his right arm and instantly the triple-decker, violently purple bus appeared and the lampposts had to jump out of its way so it would not hit them. A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in an equally purple uniform leapt down on to the pavement and began monotonously, 'Welcome to the―'

'Yes, yes, we know, thank you,' interrupted Tonks swiftly. 'On, on, get on―' she added to the children, shoving Harry forwards towards the steps and past Stanley Shunpike, who goggled at the boy.

''Ere― It's 'Arry ― !'

'If you shout his name, I'll curse you into oblivion,' threatened Tonks whilst shunting Ginny and Hermione inside.

Once they were all in, she realised that there were not eight chairs in the same deck and bit her lip even more nervous.

'Looks like we'll have to split up,' she said briskly and looked at Remus who nodded not entirely cheerful. Remus could be brave and a great duelist, but she was the Auror. She would need to take Harry to the safer deck in case someone invaded the bus, she would have time to Side-Apparate them before the worst. There were four empty chairs on the first deck and she was aware that Harry, Ron and Hermione were as good as inseparable so she divided their group, 'Fred, George and Ginny if you just take those chairs in the back ... Remus can stay with you,' she added and Lupin offered her another nod.

She proceeded with Harry, Ron and Hermione to the next and let the boys take the couple of chairs in the back while she sat with Hermione in the front, ready to stop any attacker if needed be. Uptight, she watched as many heads turned to Harry and then back as he passed by the occupants of the bus. The next minute, the Knight Bus had set off, swaying ominously and Pigwidgeon flew, twittering wildly until he rested upon Hermione's shoulder. Tonks looked back just to see Ron pulling his chair up and Stan starting to chat with the boys after they had paid for their ticket.

Beside her, Hermione seemed particularly panicky every time the bus avoided hitting something by less than an inch. She even covered her eyes when the Knight Bus swayed alarmingly and overtook a line of cars on the inside with the owl still on her shoulder. Tonks held tight to her chair as all of them slid backwards when the bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane, which reminded her of some of her holidays with her parents when she was a little child and it hit her, it would take an awfully long time for them to reach Hogwarts at that pace and they could not take their chances crossing all England with Harry Potter on board the Knight Bus, just waiting for Death Eaters to come and get him. Tonks got up and called the conductor.

'Too long for our stop?' she asked leaning on a candle bracket.

'Yeah,' he nodded. 'Full down there, didn' ya see it? Loads of trippers this time of the year, ya know?'

'And now?' she asked again, taking a Galleon from her pocket and letting it fall upon his hand.

His eyes shone at the sight of the golden coin and he gasped, looking at her wide-eyed.

'You're next!' he announced. 'Though we best leave Madam Marsh first. She's not feelin' very well, been barfin' all the way―'

'Thanks, Stan!'

Not as good as being the next on the queue, but it was the best she could do. She had barely taken her seat back when a spattering noise was heard and a few minutes later they had stopped outside a small pub and she listened as Shunpike ushered Madam Marsh out the bus. The Knight Bus had barely got speed back when the driver started to stop it again at a snowy Hogsmeade and rolled to a halt just outside the gates to Hogwarts. Remus and Tonks helped them with their luggage before getting off to say goodbye.

'You'll be safe once you're in the grounds,' remarked Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. 'Have a good term, OK?' she said to them all whilst hugging Ginny.

'Look after yourselves,' reminded Remus, shaking hands with all of them, but wittingly leaving Harry to be the last one. 'And listen...' he lowered his voice, 'Harry, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all ― Sirius included ― want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, all right?'

'Yeah, all right,' answered Harry heavily. 'See you, then.'

Remus watched as they entered Hogwarts grounds and heard a relieved sigh from Tonks beside him.

'I'm going to have an ice-cream.'

Remus stared at the snow for a moment before gazing utterly confused at her. Ice-cream?

'What, Remus?' she asked already starting to walk towards the village. 'Your mum says you shouldn't eat ice-cream when it's cold and you just comply?'

_Well, yes._

After the initial shock, he allowed himself to dwell on the subject for a second. _She had a reason, it's cold! _Tonks kept her way without looking back at him and he was not sure whether it had been the tone in her voice, but something made him follow her, knowing that she wanted him to.

'Tonks!'

'Honeydukes' is not as good as Florean's,' she pointed out, 'but since we're here...' She opened the door, holding it for him and Remus closed it behind himself. 'I'd like a bubble-gum ice-cream, Mr Flume,' asked Tonks with a smile before turning to look at him. 'And you?'

Remus shot the man an apologetic look, hesitating.

'The bubble-gum one is really good; you should try it out,' urged Tonks.

'I don't―'

'Make it two,' she announced and Ambrosius Flume went downstairs to fetch the ice-cream, shaking his head.

It was freezing outside, ten past eleven in the morning, they had not even had lunch yet. All the reasons for them to not have ice-cream then. All the reasons his mother used to allege when he was a kid, he could not help but to think and yet he found himself unable to stop it. Moreover she did not seem upset at him in the slightest and it brought some relief to him. A moment later Ambrosius returned with their orders and Tonks hurried to it, putting a spoonful in her mouth and paying for them before Remus could protest. He got the pot from her hand and she smiled as they left the shop and chose a table to sit.

'Will you listen if I want to say something to you?' questioned Remus.

'Depends,' answered Tonks.

'About that day―'

'Remus―'

'No, please―'

'There's nothing to talk about!' she twitted. 'It was a _stupid_ request, under a _stupid _mistletoe because of another _stupid _idea from Si―' Tonks stopped herself before yelling her cousin's name for the whole Hogsmeade to hear. 'I shouldn't have asked. Like I said, meant nothing. Let it go,' she bossed. Although she was not sure if he really wanted him to forget the matter, but she surely did not want to talk about it if it meant that he would keep apologising.

Remus clenched her teeth. If he was unsure of her being upset with him or not before, he knew it for a fact then. There was no denying. However, it seemed as though trying to fix things then would only make them worse for he felt an impulse of kissing her right then to prove her wrong. Because if someone like Tonks allowed him the honour to kiss her, he would certainly be the most― Blimey! How could he? He exhaled heavily. _It's the full moon, it's the full moon three days from now,_ he kept repeating for himself, _it's the full moon._

'Happy Christmas,' she said at long last. 'Little late, I know, but I never got the chance to say it to you, not in person at least.' Tonks lowered her gaze to her ice-cream, putting another spoonful in her mouth.

'Merry Christmas,' Remus said back. 'Thank you for the chess, by the way. It's wonderful, but you didn't really have to.'

'Oh, it's nothing.' She shook her head. 'Anyone ever told you you're a hard bloke to buy for? It's like I could give you nothing and everything and you'd be happy.'

'Yes, I― um...' Remus moved to get the package in the inside pocket of his jacket. 'I also got you something, wanted to give you before but ... well ... Here.'

Tonks got from his hand a small package, open it as gingerly as she possibly could until it revealed a black velvet box and Tonks let out a small gasp in opening it. A bracelet made of several translucent, small, heart-shaped sea stones that reflected beautifully the snowy white that covered Hogsmeade's street.

'Remus,' breathed Tonks.

'It was my mother's,' he explained, as if to let her know that he did not think of her in that way, it was simply something he did not use nor would he ever and choose to give it to a dear friend. A simple attempt to diminish his work. 'The same you were mocking for protecting her son against cold ice-cream in January,' he chuckled nervously.

'I-I ― I'm sorry,' she pleaded lifting up her gaze to meet his. 'I'm sure she's― I'm sure she is a lovely―'

'Was,' corrected Remus sadly.

'_Was_! I know― Of course― Yes, I know― I'm sure she _was_ a lovely― _lovely_ lady and I―' Tonks bit her lip desperately, trying to calm her breathing that was coming in quick pants then.

'May I?' he asked eyeing the bracelet and after Tonks nodded he fastened it around her wrist.

The Auror admired the item for a while before standing up and Remus mirrored her action, all of a sudden somewhat nervous for being unsure of what she wanted to do. Slowly however, she made her way to where he was and wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him just like she had done two months before in Halloween and Remus was happy to notice that this time, she was not doing because she felt as though he needed it, she merely wanted to. Although this time, she was just as tall as he was and her body had a completely different shape than the previous time, Remus felt just as dear to her as he embraced her.

'Thank you,' she whispered warmly into his ear and moved to place a kiss on his cheek before letting him go, hoping he knew just how much he had come to mean for her.

'You're most welcome,' he murmured as he felt her hand in his.

'Come on,' she called. 'We've got somewhere else to be.'

Feeling the darkness of apparition pull him to the Ministry of Magic, Remus, for some unknown reason, did not feel ready to tell her just yet that the sea stones were in fact oval-shaped when the bracelet belonged to Hope Lupin; in seeing Tonks's heart-shaped face over and over again in his mind however, he was convinced that they ought to change in order to fit perfectly its new owner.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** Who liked Remus's gift for Tonks raise your hands! xD You guys were so keen to know what it was that now I'm curious to know whether you liked it or not. =P

Thank you one more time for your beautiful reviews and I'll love you forever if you leave your thought in the box down here, all right? Thanks!

E Júlia, eu vi a sua mensagem sim, obrigada! :) O Tumblr apaga as mensagens quando um blog é deletado, mas ainda fica disponível pra ver no app do iPhone. Vou dar uma olhada lá, sim. Quanto ao beijo que vc perguntou, ainda vai levar um tempinho, como você pode ver, nada é fácil com esses dois. xD


	32. 31 Out of the Cage

**A/N:** Hi, guys! And here is another chapter! This one was fast! Thank Merlin! Haha! I'll try to bring the next one fast as well, but if Pottermore comes up with the last chapters of PoA, I'll have to take some time to edit things around here, all right? That and I want to write one chapter for By My Side as well. =P  
>Here's my usual thank you for all your brilliant reviews, you are unbelievable! Thank you, really. And please, let me know of what you thought of this chapter, it wasn't an easy one to write.<p>

E Júlia, se vc quiser falar comigo mais rapidamente, é só perguntar anonimamente lá no meu Tumblr, mesmo vc não tendo um dá pra fazer isso. :) Aí eu respondo publicamente no blog. ^^

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 31: Out Of The Cage<strong>

The sound of soft laughter was recurrent at the Auror Office late that night. The only remaining Aurors were Tonks and Savage as the others had already reached the comfort of their homes and the task of guarding the fort for an eventual emergency had been delegated to the younger ones since the great majority of them found it incredibly unlikely for them to not be able to handle anything that might come up after what had happened with the bloke from the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts down where the Unspeakables worked.

"And what about when we had to save the farting lady?" choked Savage and Tonks had to stop herself from laughing out loud. "Bet that up to this day she doesn't believe she needed saving."

"I wish!" laughed Tonks. "We could've been spared the trouble."

"Yeah ... Still think it was one of the missions that Joshua and I had more fun recalling, though."

The smile vanished from Tonks's lips faster than she was able to prevent and put up another one. Here and there, the memory of their late colleague would strike her out of nowhere and she simply could not stop the grimace, even though she was desperate to do so.

"Yeah," she sighed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't ―"

"S'all right." She shook her head. "He was your partner ― your friend. You know you have the right to remember him by." Tonks swallowed hard, desperate to bring laughter back to their work place. "And that time when the three of us ambushed that farmer?" She let out a small chuckle. "Utterly perfect ambush ―"

Savage laughed at her, visibly glad to not have to grief perceptibly any longer.

"― only we were not supposed to get the farmer but the drug dealer and ―"

"Just a sec, just a sec," asked Savage getting up after having seen a memorandum come in flying.

Memorandums were the way the several Ministry Departments had to exchange information, but it was extended to other facilities that were under the Minister's eye. Tonks leapt from the desk she had been sitting on and ran before him to check what kind of action they would have thrown upon themselves.

He got to it before she did and knitted his brows when he noticed that it was a confidential one. Those were never exactly something good, but if it meant for them to get out and have some action, he would be glad. Tonks arrived beside him as he unfolded the memorandum and revealed that the piece of parchment in his hands only had three words scratched on it.

BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

Time seemed to have stopped as the open-mouthed Aurors lifted their gazes to meet the other's eyes.

"Fuck," cursed both of them in unison.

They did not need anything else to know precisely what to do and more importantly what the other one would be doing. They had vanished into thin air the following second and reappeared at the Wizarding prison, embracing themselves for the familiar feeling of sorrow that came with that place, but oddly enough, it never did.

Tonks was well aware that she should alert Dumbledore if what was written in the memorandum was proved to be the truth, but she could not badger the Headmaster with a stupid rumour, she had to be completely certain of the information she would sent him.

They appeared in a cold, grey corridor and started to rapidly walk to the end of it; the only sound in there being their shoes hitting the hard floor. The man behind the desk at the end of the corridor was chewing his bottom lip whilst fidgeting with the wand in his hands. As Tonks and Savage approached, he looked at their scarlet robes with relief and sighed happily when they showed him their badges.

"This way," said the man, starting to fast walk down another minor corridor.

"New protection against the Dementors?" wondered Savage.

The man shook his head obviously uncomfortable.

"I've got no idea what really happened ..."

Savage frowned somewhat. He worked there and did not know about the new, efficient protection that did not allow any of the effects to pass through the walls and affect anyone who were not a prisoner.

"Who escaped?" enquired Tonks, trying to put the Dementor matter behind them.

The man looked at her with desperate eyes, which left her with an uncomfortable feeling that there was something else wrong entirely.

"We've counted seven so far."

"_WHAT?_" bellowed Tonks.

"Yeah," the man sighed as though admitting that it was true.

"But ho ―"

"Like I said, dunno," he reminded them. "It seems that the Dementors just left the prison."

They had left the bit of Azkaban that belonged to the administrative sector and entered the one in which the prisoners actually were. It was impossible to not notice how many of them were quiet in their beds even after the guards had left. Most of them had their eyes unfocused and trapped inside their own heads. For a short moment, Tonks wondered whether they would ever fully recover since the Dementors did not actually need to keep them within a closed place. She supposed however, that after a bigger exposition to an environment which was Dementors-free, the prisoners would slowly learn how to live again in a world where happiness and hope actually existed.

One of them caught her attention more than any of the others, a thatched-head wizard with square jaw and thick, straw-coloured hair. Sturgis Podmore. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him and what Azkaban had done to him within the last four months, heavy bags were under his eyes and he was visibly thinner. The Order had barely mentioned Sturgis lately and she would be lying to herself if she said she recalled him every day. Once a month, if that much, she would have a reminder from one of the older members of the Order that he was still within the same walls she found herself in then.

_And to think that he is innocent ..._

Well, none of them knew precisely what had got into Sturgis for him to be forcing the entrance to a room he knew how to get in, but she supported Mad-Eye's deduction that he had been Imperiused by someone else. Her only consolation was to realise that he had only two months to go. If that was meant to be any consolation at all.

Tonks was taken from her musings when they entered a different sector of the prison and they noticed a good bit from one of Azkaban's walls missing. Her eyes widened as she heard whistling in surprise beside her.

"We've gotta alert Scrimgeour," she brought forth and he nodded. "Go!" she urged. "I'll set up a perimeter."

Savage had vanished into thin air the next second and she entered one of the cells that did not have one of the walls anymore, looking downwards to the raging sea beneath them and to the shattered piece of wall there. Tonks gazed to the horizon, focusing for a second before raising her wand and saying, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

"_What was that for?_" interrogated the man behind her and for a heartbeat she struggled with what she would answer him, but managed to keep a straight face as she walked back to where he was.

"Checking if there's any Dementor left," she lied.

"By sending it away?" He arched an eyebrow.

"By knowing the direction the Patronus went once it left my wand, now come on, we don't have time for this! I need the names of the ones who escaped," she added authoritatively.

"Oh, right, right. There was um, Mulciber," he started to count in his fat fingers, "Travis, Rowle, Dolohov, Selwyn, Rookwood ―"

"Death Eaters!" shouted Tonks.

"― and Jugson. Yes, ma'am," he added visibly uncomfortable and had she not been so caught up by the fact that Death Eaters had escaped, she would have thought of funny the idea of being called by ma'am.

"Did you see anyone around? Any other hooded figure?" she questioned, recalling the even in the World Cup. "Anything?"

"No, not at all ―"

The loud pop of apparition was heard and she descried two male figures running towards her, but she did not spare them a look.

"**You're telling me that there's a huge chunk of wall missing and that seven of the most dangerous prisoners just disappeared and you've got no idea how it happened?**"

"Well, yeah, like I said ― it's as though the Dementors left and ―"

"Tonks!" scolded Scrimgeour, tying his green nightgown and glaring at her.

She clenched her teeth, morphed her hair back from ginger and adjusted her position to look at her boss.

"Yes, sir."

"Report."

"A bit of the wall fell down ― it is unknown how ― allowing seven of the most high guarded convicts to escape. All known Death Eat ―"

"The Lestranges!" yelled another man from down the hallway they were in whilst running towards them. "The Lestranges," he repeated short of breath, "they are the other ones ― the other cells we didn't ―"

"_Bellatrix?_" asked Tonks in disbelief.

"Bellatrix," he nodded breathing deeply, "Rodolphus and Rabastan."

"... Fuck," cursed Tonks shaking her head.

"Do you know her, Tonks?" enquired Scrimgeour.

"She's my mum's sister," she answered nodding.

"How long since you last saw her?"

"Are you ― I'm not ― _You can't think I have anything to do with this!_" she declared. "_We've been through this already when Sirius escaped!_"

"Black?" Scrimgeour frowned tilting his head slightly to the side.

"Yes ..." Tonks agreed biting her bottom lip.

"Wait," said Savage looking from her to their boss. "You think he's involved? Do you think he's the one that helped them escape?"

"They obviously had help from the outside," he gestured towards the missing wall, "so could be ..." Scrimgeour nodded. "_Where's Shacklebolt?_ All right, you two, we'll need everyone for this. Is the perimeter set up yet?"

"Not yet, sir," answered Tonks.

"We figured calling you were our biggest priority, sir," added Savage.

"Indeed it was, but now we need all the force we can get. Go!"

The two of them disappeared, Apparating before Kingsley's flat the following instant and Tonks began to punch his door.

"**Kings!**" she shouted. "**Kings, it's urgent!**"

He opened the door right after she finished her say, rolling down the sleeve of his work robes.

"You're up?" Savage furrowed his brows.

Kingsley merely shrugged.

"It's not _that_ late."

"It's really not," added Tonks checking her watch and realising it was three to one in the morning.

"So what happened?" he asked looking from Savage to Tonks.

"Azkaban," answered Savage, "mass breakout, mate."

"Death Eaters," specified Tonks, "ten of them."

"Scrimgeour is there already," Savage continued, "looking for you; he thinks Black's somehow responsible for it."

Kingsley seemed to be in deep thought as he nodded.

"Let's split up," said Tonks to her partner who offered her a curt nod whilst Kingsley magically locked his door. "I get Proudfoot, Hawlish and Poynter."

"Right, I'll go to Dawlish's, Williamson's and Robards's," he informed.

Tonks was about to Disapparate when she noticed the look Kingsley was giving her and waited for half a second for Savage to leave.

"Dumbledore's holding a meeting at three." He hit his watch lightly and she realised that that was most likely the reason for him to be up when they arrived. "We can arrive late if we're still busy there by then but let's see if we can make it."

"Okay," assented Tonks.

Kingsley then Disapparated and she too vanished into thin air the following instant.

Ten minutes later, Savage and Tonks had arrived back at Azkaban and noticed that not only the Aurors were working there but Dumbledore as well.

"All right, you ―" Scrimgeour pointed angrily to both of them. "I need you at the west end! Anything you can find that might give us a lead to where they went. I need to alert the Minister."

They proceeded to the west end and started scanning the rocks for any lead, but after half an hour of nothing, they were forced to admit that that bit was clear and had to move on to the next part of the plan: search underwater. Protecting themselves with both a Warming and a Bubble-Head Charm, they entered the freezing sea.

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><p>A sudden, bright light of a phoenix Patronus was the responsible for waking up Remus that night. After hearing in Dumbledore's voice that seven known Death Eaters had escaped the highest guarded prison, he jolted awake. How had they done it? Sirius had been the only one before to ever accomplish such deed and it was because he was an illegal Animagus clinging to avenge his dead friends; thus, not a happy thought for the Dementors to suck but an obsession. But those Death Eaters were not Animagi and Remus realised that the only chance for them to have escaped was to have the Azkaban guards by their side as Dumbledore had foreseen so long ago.<p>

The Headmaster's message also informed him that in two hours time, the Headquarters would be holding yet another meeting so he stood up and dressed himself before climbing one flight of stairs and knocking on Sirius's door.

"Padfoot?"

There was a sound of something heavy hitting the floor followed immediately by a groan and then for two whole seconds, Remus heard nothing.

"...Yeah?"

"You got Dumbledore's message?"

"I did ― oof ― Yes."

"Are you coming or ...?"

He heard heavy steps nearing the door and then Sirius struggling with the doorknob.

"Listen, Moony, mate," he began narrowing his eyes at the single candle in the corridor and Remus could smell the alcohol clearly in his breath, "why don't you go ahead and I'll rest here a bit more, yeah? Meeting is not for another couple of hours so if you don't mind ..."

Sirius walked back to his bed, not bothering with the covers and simply let himself fall upon it. Remus sighed. He had not even changed clothes. Shaking his head, he made his way silently to the kitchen. He was well aware that Dumbledore would not approve of Sirius' state, let alone Snape. He could not let Sirius be mocked because of simple fact that he was trapped inside the house with close to nothing to distract himself.

"Kreacher lives to serve the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, my mistress," said the house-elf with a big, satisfied smile as Remus went down the staircase. "Oh, it's that friend of Sirius, it is. Kreacher heard that he is a werewolf, um, but Kreacher doesn't know if he is indeed, yes. Kreacher doesn't doubt that Sirius boy could be friends with a half-breed, yes."

Remus closed his eyes and tried to forget what he had just heard and was glad that Sirius had not heard it for he would certainly get angry with Kreacher, not helping in the slightest with his own situation. In the kitchen, he could not help but to let his mind wonder back to the escapees. Dumbledore knew it would happen sooner or later, but the Minister refused to believe. Had Fudge not been so stubborn, he could have prevented the breakout and its consequences that were unpredictable so far. Who would they choose to murder now that they were out? If Fudge himself or anyone he held dear on that matter was killed by one of them, would he finally regret his irrational fear of losing his position for Dumbledore?

He set on the kettle in order to prepare some tea for himself, but there was also something else he needed to do so he got the cauldron and ignited a flame underneath it before fetching some Rose's oil to start boiling the potion.

A little over an hour later, he was climbing the steps up once more carrying a goblet in his hand.

"Sirius?" he called preceded by a knock on his door but not waiting for any proper answer before letting himself in.

"...Moony?"

"That's right," he informed. "Now come on. I've got something for you," he added placing the goblet upon the bedside table.

Sirius groaned and turned around to face his best friend.

"Told you to let me sleep ..." He narrowed his eyes. "You just left ― What _is_ this?"

"Sobriety Potion," he answered. "And no, it's half an hour for the meeting so I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore came from that door right now. Now, drink that all up," he ordered sipping on his own tea.

Sirius got the goblet, taking it to his nose to smell it and making a face at it.

"Does it ever get better?" he groaned and gulped it fast.

"Don't think so." Remus shook his head amused for up to this day, he still had the same reaction from their Hogwarts years. "And take a shower, will you?" he asked leaving the room. "It's nice to change clothes every once in a while ..."

"Fuck you, Moony," mumbled Sirius standing.

Remus went back to the kitchen, rather proud with himself for convincing Sirius to get sober and presentable again, but he did not know that his happiness with it would not last long. An hour later and he was already wondering if he had made the right call. A sleepy, drunk Sirius would most likely had let it go and bypass the fact that Severus had not known of the Dark Lord's plans to free his best and most loyal lieutenants.

"_And we're supposed to just take your word for it?_" Sirius arched an eyebrow at Snape. "_We're supposed to believe that you had __**not a clue**__ this was about to happen?_"

"The Dark Lord does not share all his plans with me," retorted Snape. "There are some things that he rather ―"

"And those are exactly why we need a spy!" replied Sirius and Remus knew he was only too happy to be the one to accuse Snape of not doing as it was expected of him.

"Sirius," called the Headmaster, glaring at him through his glasses. "Was there really no announce of it, Severus?"

"As we know, the Dark Lord has been talking about increasing his number of followers for several months now and he is aware as well that the Dementors were close to accept his offers and join them, but he had yet to mention that Azkaban was about to be ―"

Three knocks upon the entrance's door interrupted Snape, but Molly stood up and went to answer it, allowing Severus to finish.

"― taken under his control."

Dumbledore nodded and Remus, although wary by what Sirius had mentioned, knew that the Headmaster trusted Snape. Voldemort was most likely somewhat distrustful before such wonderful Occlumens and therefore chose to hide some of his essential plans. Moreover, if Dumbledore saw no reason to mistrust Snape, why would he?

Followed by Molly, Tonks and Shacklebolt entered the room looking rather worn-out. She let herself fall upon one of the couple of empty chairs whereas Kingsley went to get both of them a cup of tea by the sink.

"Has Cornelius accepted it yet?" asked Dumbledore.

"Afraid not." Kingsley shook his head coming to sit and handing the second mug to Tonks, who smiled her thanks. "Already called the Prophet, will be the front page, he's alerting everyone as you suggested, Dumbledore, but he's still convinced that it's your fault." He raised his mug towards Sirius.

"_Me?_"

Sirius widened his eyes in disbelief and Kingsley nodded.

"Didn't you know? Since you're Bellatrix Lestrange's cousin he's convinced that you're behind it all," he explained. "You're the biggest threat in his eyes."

"Does he ―" began Sirius, but Kingsley interrupted him with a raised hand.

"You're still the only one who broke out from Azkaban and the dark wizard responsible for twelve deaths," he pointed out. "I'm sorry."

Sirius leant back on his chair, shaking his head visibly fuming.

"For now, it's best for us to let them believe this was your doing, Sirius," decided the Headmaster. "Cornelius can't avoid the truth for much longer."

"Sure," Sirius shrugged, "put another crime on me."

"Any lead was found?"

"No," Tonks answered warming her hands around the hot mug. "We looked all around it ― everywhere. There was _nothing_. It's really as if the Dementors pulled the wall and set them free to Disapparate."

Dumbledore offered her a curt nod.

"Now that Voldemort has got some of his most loyal followers, we must be more attentive than ever to the prophecy," said the Headmaster. "Although it is unlikely for him to try another lunge soon, he certainly will."

"Let's hope Potter doesn't give us out," remarked Mad-Eye.

"Let's hope Harry saves us again," replied Molly glaring at him.

"Let's hope Harry needs to do neither. Now, please," solicited Dumbledore. "We must decide on the responsible for the double shifts for the following week. The ones available raise your hands."

With heavy lids, Tonks raised her hand whilst Remus did not. He was well aware that with the full moon on the next night he would be as useful guarding a prophecy for the Order as a roll of parchment. He watched as Tonks got two shifts for herself, but noted that she chose not be involved in the next couple of days. With such an enormous breakout from Azkaban with unprecedented, he could only imagine the amount of paperwork she would have to deal with.

"In addition to those, we must keep a careful eye out for the escapees, if anyone has a lead on the whereabouts of any of them, do not hesitate to inform me immediately," he requested and most of the members nodded.

"There is something else, Headmaster," mentioned Emmeline.

"Yes, Emmeline?" He gestured for her to continue.

"Broderick Bode's death," she brought forth, "seems rather suspicious, doesn't it? I mean, a mysterious accident at the workplace we know so well, let alone him who is there all day, and just as he was getting better to tell everyone precisely what had happened, he's killed by a Devil's Snare sent to him anonymously?" she asked incredulously.

Dumbledore nodded.

"Suspicious indeed."

"First Sturgis and now this ... I'd say is starting to form a pattern," she supposed.

"We shall watch the Unspeakables movements closely if possible as well. If no one has another comment to make, the meeting now is officially over," declared Dumbledore.

Tonks swallowed the rest of her tea and waved her goodbye to Remus and Sirius. She was so incredibly glad to be spared of the rest of her night shift. Going home and crashing sounded wonderful. Exhaling heavily, she climbed down the steps and Disapparated, reappearing at her own doorstep the following instant. She made her way to her bedroom and poorly changed into her pyjamas, sparing a glance at the clock before happily letting her eyelids close and noticing it was already twenty past four, she gladly allowed sleep to claim her. An awful day of paperwork and arguments awaited her and she surely did not want to be stuck all day writing on a piece of parchment nor relive twenty times the moment she and Savage received the call and proceeded to Azkaban, but she did not have a choice. It would be anything but easy to deal with all those escapees and the consequences of their escape but with Dumbledore leading them and with the Order so well prepared, she had no doubt that they would sooner or later stop them from harming any innocents.

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><p>Notwithstanding tired, Remus Lupin could not sleep. He could already feel the effects of the moon upon his body, the restless way he would roll in bed, how his skin felt as if it was burning even though it was snowing out there and the most disturbing of all, the way he could smell Tonks before she and Kingsley had even knocked on the door. It had to stop. Month after month had been the same thing. He did not know for how long he could take it anymore. Even now, a good while after she had left the house after staying for about an hour and had not climbed a single step, he could still smell vanilla, cream and cherry coming from downstairs. He knew how much Kingsley was an honourable man, how well he did his job, how many lives he had saved, but Remus could not help but to envy him. He got to spend several hours with Tonks in a room down at the level two of the Ministry of Magic. No one would ever suspect if he approached her outside their work place, let alone look down at her, differently of what would happen if a known werewolf came to her, how the Wizarding community would despise her for even talking with someone like him. For the first time and for her own sake, he wished he was not a lycanthrope, he wished he was someone better just so he could be a real friend for whenever and wherever she needed him.<p>

Remus could see the prominent bags under his eyes the following morning, he could feel the weariness upon his body and dreaded the night as much as he wished for it to come and allow him another month of peace. He went by his day as best as he could, shutting down the beast within him whenever he felt it was taking control. Severus arrived at six with a full goblet of Wolfsbane and he thanked his colleague, wishing that Sirius would not perceive the Potions Master presence and start a fight yet again. He drank it all, holding his breath all day in order to make its taste somewhat better by eliminating most of the smell, but with his highly sharpened senses it was not possible.

During all day he only wished for a company ― _her_ company. More than ever he wanted her around, unsure as though to why she had this calming effect upon him, one that Sirius ― being asleep more hours than awake during day ― did not have, let alone Kreacher talking with himself in every corner of the house. He wanted to just Apparate to the Ministry and watch a certain witch work, if she allowed him that much. A witch who, at that moment, had not an easy task ahead of her.

Embracing herself, Tonks knocked on the door, waiting for a moment until she heard light footsteps inside the house and sighed relieved.

"Darling!" Andromeda smiled at the sight of her daughter, taking a step back to her to enter. "It's ... so early. Come on in. Is anything wrong? Are you all right?" she interrogated placing a hand upon her forehead. "Ted! Nymphadora's here!"

"I'm fine, Mum," she answered automatically whilst her father entered the room still donning his pyjamas.

"All right, Dora?" Ted asked smiling warmly.

"I'm guessing you haven't seen the Prophet," she said bluntly and seeing her parents shake their heads and furrow their brows, she opened the copy she had in her hands, showing them the first page.

"What?" Ted's voice sounded indignant.

"Mass breakout. We're not really sure how it happened," she explained hoping they would catch the apologies in her tone. "She's out, Mum."

Andromeda reached for her almost unrecognisable sister, looking but not seeing. Eyes lost in what Tonks was sure to be several memories, certainly more threats than anything else, knowing that she was no longer safe, but then again, with You-Know-Who out there, who was?

"We were called in the middle of the night, searched everywhere. Scrimgeour thinks Sirius is to blame, but of course he isn't, he's just lost so he gotta say there's a lead," she sighed handing her mother the paper. "Here. I can't stay long; I've got to go to work."

"Not even staying for breakfast, love?" questioned her father.

"No, Dad, I really have to go. I should've been there already. I ― Thank you." Dora looked at her mother attentively. "I'm sorry, Mum."

But Andromeda shook her head.

"Don't be silly. It wasn't your fault." She tried her best to smile, but was not entirely successful. "Take care," she added, tapping her daughter's cheek lightly.

"I will."

Half an hour later, Tonks was bored despite having just arrived and the big pile of paperwork on her desk to deal with. She let her quill fall and leant back on her chair, searching through her pockets until her fingers found what she had been looking for. She got the tiny, silver package and unwrapped it before throwing the pink gum in her mouth and starting to chew. More than a few times she had been through it, replaying the same memory over and over in her head. Honestly, paperwork was among the most useless invention of mankind. They should just really come up with a way to make a copy of the memories of whoever was involved and put it out there for future reference.

And on top of everything, it was a full moon, a voucher for a sleepless night in her book. But yet, she could not blame herself, not when Remus would be going through another painful transformation. Tonks stood up, blowing a bubble and walking around the office until she stopped at her partner's desk, getting the Daily Prophet that was lying there untouched. Savage offered her an amused look before re-focusing on his report. She let her eyes wander through the headlines, hoping to find something that would be able to get her attention for more than a minute when she spotted, at the bottom of the page, the news that made her heart skip a beat.

ALL TICKETS BOOKED FOR THE WEIRD SISTERS' NEXT MONTH'S TOUR

Tonks went through the pages until she found the article and started to read. Her favourite band would be making presentations throughout February all over the United Kingdom and their show in London would be specially dated on the 14th but all the tickets had been sold in the first week; it certainly would be several couple's idea of a perfect date for the Valentine's Day. With a groan, she cursed the Order and the Auror Office for all the extra work she had been doing that had left her without a single minute for important news such as The Weird Sisters' shows.

"Have you seen this?" demanded Tonks pointing at the headline.

Savage narrowed his eyes as he looked to the paper. His brows rose as he read through.

"Merlin! Really?" he asked unbelievingly. "Blimey! No. No, I hadn't ... Getting harder and harder to see them live, isn't it?"

Tonks did not respond, she kept staring at the photo printed on the paper with the members of the band playing a couple of years before, in a concert she had attended.

"Can you imagine how much they must've made this far?" wondered Savage with dreamy eyes. "So many albums ― not to mention all the merchandise ..."

Upset, she walked back to her desk, focusing upon her report just enough to get it finished, letting her mind wonder to what she was sure to be the concert of the year. And she would miss it. As if it was mocking her, her favourite song kept running through her mind as long as she needed to deal with her paperwork. However, as she rolled in bed that night, the concert had been swept off her mind, the breakout had been given a tiny space in the back that she did not wander, both replaced by a kind bloke she had known for some months, one that howled in pain at that precise moment and it hurt her badly to be unable to make him feel better, leaving as her only option to go through the night wishing for morning to come in the blink of an eye.


	33. 32 Diagon Alley

**A/N1:** Hello, everyone! Gosh, it's been forever, I know, but I had an awfully busy term at my uni and I just couldn't write. I'm so sorry. I missed you guys (and writing) loads, seriously, you have no idea. Anyway, I had this chapter all written about a week ago, but then my brain decided to come up with much better ways for nearly all the scenes to be written and I needed to re-write basically the whole chapter. u.u -not amused- The bright side is that the chapter was indeed much better now and I hope you all enjoy it! ^^ I tried uploading this all day long and yesterday too, but the site just wouldn't let me. :/ Did anyone else had the same issue?

Also I've finished editting chapters 1-5, the prologue, 14 and 30 (don't ask me why, just reasons ...) so if you want to keep track of the little changes, go ahead. :D I know I should've finished them all by now, but I was just really busy. :/ Sorry.

On another news, I've joined the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, as some of you already know, so you might hear a few different things from what I'm used to write (meaning Remus and Tonks), but I'll try my best.

Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year!

Bella, eu fui atrás do vídeo q vc deixou o endereço, mas não aparece nada no youtube. :/ Tenta deixar de novo, por favor. ^^

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 32: Diagon Alley<strong>

The Grimmauld Place was well known for its peculiar noises and anyone who had any hope to live in it had to ― if not like them – at least get used to them. Remus Lupin had been one of those. Since he had moved in, when the house was merely habitable, he had become accustomed with the cracklings in the middle of the night; habituated himself to sleep with a locked door, after having slept all his life with open doors and learnt to ignore the murmurs of the house-elf, Kreacher, walking around whilst saying foul things about him being a lycanthrope. He had chosen to do so to keep company to his last living best mate, but he had been failing dismally. On a daily basis Sirius would lock himself up in his mother's old bedroom doing Merlin-knew-what and only came down to eat, which was the only time Remus would try to make any sort of conversation, but Sirius was becoming more temperamental, unstable and bored to no end with each day gone by.

That evening seemed to be no different than the hundreds before, until Remus left Hestia's report, that Dumbledore had asked him to summarise, and came across a rather unusual noise coming from the direction of the drawing-room. It seemed to him like some sort of moan mixed with – Sirius's voice. Although he could not quite comprehend what was being said, he was sure of whom it belonged to. In entering the room he noticed, right beneath the house-elves' heads, Sirius lying unsteadily on a couch, fast asleep and panting.

'No ... No ... Innocent ...'

Remus walked slowly towards him and sat before him, upon the coffee table.

'Pads.'

'Free ...'

'Pads.'

''M not ...'

'Padfoot.' He shook him by the shoulder.

'Innocent ...'

'**Sirius!**'

His eyes were open the next instant, looking at him as though he was a transformed werewolf, or at least what Remus thought they should look like since Sirius never really took his lycanthropy seriously enough.

'Merlin's pants!' Sirius sat down with his head in his hands as if it was about to explode. 'Moony, no need to scream at me. Wake me up nicely, would you? Or is it too much to ask?'

He got up to his feet and was moving towards the door when Remus spoke.

'I tried. Sirius, you were–'

'I was sleeping.'

'–having a bad dream.'

'Everybody has bad dreams.'

'Don't say it like–'

'A bad dream is–'

'–it was nothing.'

'–a bad dream. No point in–'

'Quit lying to–'

'–telling you what–'

'–me and yourself. We both–'

'–it was about. Either way, it–'

'– know that it wasn't–'

'–doesn't matter–'

'Hm hm.'

The sound of a throat being cleared stopped them and both their heads turned towards the door.

'And here I thought the Marauders were great friends.'

Tonks had her arms crossed over her chest and a frown upon her face.

'Peter proved you wrong, didn't he?'

Sirius left before either of them could come up with something to say or worse, to convince him to stay.

It still hurt.

Remus closed his eyes, hands on his hips and took his time to inhale and exhale. Drat him and his bad temper.

'What the bloody hell happened here?' she questioned, entering the room.

Avoiding her gaze, he looked at the floor and slowly went to sit on the armchair. With his eyes locked upon the Daily Prophet of two days before he wondered what would he tell her for as much as he wanted an ally on finding of what exactly Sirius's nightmares consisted of, he could not put such burden upon her plate. He knew she was having a hard time since the breakout, he did not need to be an Auror to know that. And of course her shifts guarding the prophecy were not helpful in the slightest. She was risking her life day after day for their cause and the last thing he needed was for her to be thinking about her cousin's bad dreams when she needed to be focused on staying alive. Someone needed to protect her. He would do so. At all costs. Good thing that he had become such an experienced liar, wasn't it? And so quickly thought of something to take her mind off of it.

'Hey, I asked you a question.'

'Temperamental,' he said eventually, only then noticing that she had sat on couch not far from him. 'What did I tell you?' he added referring to night they had gone out to have a couple of drinks.

Tonks sighed. She just wanted to have a fine evening with both of them, but yet again Sirius had ran off to sulk. She wondered when coming to the Grimmauld had become meeting Sirius and Remus instead of just her cousin. A good while ago for, in hindsight, it had rarely been a time when she had been alone with Sirius; Remus had always been there. With a glint of sorrow she figured that soon enough, since Sirius was often refusing to let others than Buckbeak enjoy his company, that thought would be replaced by meeting Remus alone and surprisingly it did not seem at all an entirely sad idea.

'Just 'cause I wanted a nice, calm evening,' she commented placing her boots upon the coffee table.

'Looking for something to clear your mind a bit then?' he assumed. 'I take it things aren't so easy at the Office.'

'No ... and sort of,' she said lazily, 'more like looking for absolutely nought so I can clear my mind.'

'That's unfortunate,' he admitted in a low voice.

'Why?' she asked, suddenly interested.

'Nothing worth notice,' he told her, shaking his head lightly.

'But what was it?' she insisted.

'I just need to go to Diagon Alley, mind you I rather go by the end of the day when it's not so full and I must get the piano your cousin gave me for Christmas and denies all my attempts to return it. Could use another pair of hands to take it home, but since you just got here and are visibly tired, I can do it myself,' he assured her with a small nod.

Next instant her pink hair was even brighter, she had jumped to her feet and was grinning at him as though she had eaten a ball of energy. _Just like Sirius._

'You have an extra pair of hands,' she decided.

If she did not know him any better she would have thought that he had played her right through it.

'Oh, thank you, Dora, but you really don―'

Had she heard it right?

'What did you call me?' she interrupted him.

'I-I ...'

Her brows were slightly furrowed and then Remus realised what he had called her. He should have seen it coming. Calling her by such reserved nickname inside his mind every now and then could never be seen as a good idea. What was he thinking?

'I'm sorry, I don't kn― I shouldn't―'

'It's okay,' she said, biting her lower lip.

Tonks was not sure why, but by the way he had pronounced the word, as if she was truly dear to him, not that she had really doubted it before because he had proved in more than just one occasion that he cared about her, but it seemed ... natural. Her name in his lips was simple, like it was meant to be there. But oddly enough she did not recall ever telling him it; maybe he heard it in her parents' or from one of her friends for she surely had not told him that he was allowed to call her Dora before. However, she felt like it was not the first time, as if he had done it before, but it really was, wasn't it? Though, if he was going to start calling her by it, she should find a nickname to call him as well.

'What?'

'I said it is okay for you to call me Dora. I don't mind.' Unsure of what had got a hold of her, she stood up, walked a couple of steps towards him and placed her hand on top of his and giving it a light squeeze whilst pressing her lips upon his cheek. 'That's reserved for close friends, like you. Now, which was the shop again?'

'Wizarding Instruments Supplies, but―' he stopped himself, looking at her rather concerned even though he was trying to hide some of his amusement over how fast she could move from being weary on the couch to urging him to go and then to ... being a close friend. 'Are you sure?'

'Absobloodylutely! What's the worst that could happen, huh? A piano falling over my head? I've had injuries far worse than that, believe me!' she pointed out, all too aware that he had not mention exactly the willingness of she going with him, but not wanting to prolong her nickname's topic for another second since she was bloody sure about it. 'And I do have good reflexes.'

'I don't doubt you,' he let her know, having seen all too close one of those injuries.

'Come on then!' she called and he could not wait one more minute to follow her.

* * *

><p>The Diagon Alley was indeed emptier than it would have been a couple of hours earlier and so they easily made their way to the Southern bit, but before they reached the Wizarding Instrument Supplies, Tonks pointed at Florean Fortescue's Parlour with a tilt of her head and grinned at him.<p>

'Up for another ice cream?'

Remus had barely sucked in a breath to answer that he rather not since they were both freezing already due to the snow when she laughed, resuming their walking.

'I was just kidding, Remus.'

Tonks was shaking her head playfully when she spotted a face she had not seen in a long while.

'**Rach!**' she grinned wide running off and hugging a young woman just a few steps away from them. Remus walked towards them warily with his hands in his pockets, wondering how she had managed to recognise the young woman under so many layers of clothes.

'Blimey, Dora!' the girl Tonks called Rach exclaimed. 'I'm happy to see you too ... In fact, been meaning to talk to you ...' she added.

'Merlin, it's been forever― Oh, yes!' Tonks looked at Remus and gestured for him to step closer. 'This is my friend: Rachel. Rachel, this is Remus,' she introduced them.

'Evening, Ms ...' wondered Remus with a friendly smile.

'Wright,' answered Rachel. 'Nice to meet you.'

'Likewise, Ms Wright.'

Rachel turned to her friend, showing Tonks her right hand whilst her fingers danced and a golden ring shone.

'Soon to be Mrs Budge ...' she said nearly singing and with a large grin as they entered the Apothecary followed by Remus.

'My goodness!' Tonks grabbed her hand with wide eyes, her smile growing bigger. '_You're getting married?!_'

Rachel nodded several times.

'That's what I've been crazy to tell you but I could not get a hold of you, Dora. Yikes! I managed to tell Lucy already! Been to your flat a couple of times this week, but you weren't there ...'

'I'm so sorry, Rach, I― It's just that with Azkaban and all I― it's been a complete chaos back at the Office. I'm sorry ...' she sighed, wishing for a moment that her job would not have stopped her from being there in such a happy time for her dear friend.

'Yeah, well, I got the promotion and Finn have been making some good gold so we'll get a flat next month and so ... soon enough ...'

'But, Merlin, I _cannot_ believe it! You're getting married!'

'I'm getting married ...'

Tonks noted by the way she repeated her say that Rachel could barely restrain her own happiness, could barely believe her luck.

She spotted a cauldron labelled with 'Wolfsbane' and digressed that way.

'You've got this here?' she asked. 'Full moon isn't just for about three weeks ...'

'Is it?' Rachel frowned, confused for a moment as Tonks nodded, completely sure of herself; full moons were no longer something she could forget, not even if she wanted to. 'We've got it there all month long, we never know, maybe one of them wants to make a stock or something,' she guessed, gazing randomly at Remus who managed a really uncomfortable smile.

Tonks got the spoon and stirred it, lifting it up and managing to smell it without needing to come any closer to the horrible liquid.

'Blimey, just the smell makes me wanna vomit. The taste's awful!' She let the spoon fall back in the cauldron as Remus found himself begging for her to just step away from that cauldron, say her goodbyes and leave. If her friend by any chance thought― He noticed Rachel narrowing her eyes with her arms folded on her chest looking suspiciously from their friend to him ... and he most certainly did not need her to speak up to know exactly what she was thinking.

'Dora, can you come here for a moment?' asked Rachel walking behind a counter at the end of the shop. 'I want to show you something.'

'Rach, can we do this later? I've got to―' She pointed her thumb backwards towards Remus.

'So long you don't forget me.'

'I won't,' warranted Tonks.

'Then I'll be waiting,' Rach assured her.

'Don't close without me!' laughed Tonks walking away and being followed by Remus.

Remus, Tonks knew, would have waited patiently for her to come out, would have had the courtesy to not enquiry her about what Rachel wanted nor why it took her so long, he would simply shook his head when she apologised for leaving him by himself, whispering 'Nonsense,' but she was not about to leave him alone when she had gone there just to help him. She could aid Remus take the piano home and come back. She needed to buy her mother a birthday present anyway, which she could not postpone much longer. Resuming what they had come to do in the Diagon Alley in the first place, they spotted the shop by the end of the alley and had entered it a few minutes later.

'Evening, sir! What can I help you with?' greeted a man coming from behind some guitars.

'Yes, um, I've got ...' Remus got the parchment he had found on his doorknob on Christmas Day and handed it over, 'an order, a gift from a friend and this,' he added, also offering the man his ID for him to check.

'Would you give me a moment?' he asked already heading to the office.

Remus glanced at Tonks and saw her leaning over some guitars in electric colours. He watched as she narrowed her eyes analysing them closely and ran her thumb over a couple of strings. She had the curious glint upon her eyes and so Remus stepped closer to her.

'Sound all right?' he questioned.

'Oh, um,' Tonks put herself upright the following moment, looking surprised at him for a second. 'Yeah, they do,' she answered bashfully.

'Didn't mean to scare you ...'

'You didn't.' She smiled. 'Think Heathcote has got one of those, if not, then it's a pretty similar one.'

'Heathcote, yeah,' he remarked and seeing her eyes, he continued, 'In fact, I think it's that one,' he gestured to a purple one about three feet from where they were.

Tonks gazed at him in disbelief for a moment before walking towards the instrument. She leant closer and realised that by the dark marks in the middle, he was indeed right.

'Mr Lupin, what else are you hiding?' she grinned.

'Being a Marauder wasn't all about mischief, I got quite a good influence on music. I'm not exactly like you, but I like them, I do.'

Well, that was something she did not expect.

'Okay, Mr Lupin, it's all right with your order,' announced the man having re-entered the room, giving his ID back, which was promptly stolen from his hand by a grinning pink-haired witch beside him and Remus noticed the name Higgs on the man's name label. 'If you will follow me.' He pointed to the back of the shop and Remus began walking behind him.

'You looked very cute,' pointed out Tonks with a half-smile and handing him the ID she had got from his hands the minute before.

'Thanks,' he muttered, even though he doubted his seventeen-year-old self would have thought of cute as a compliment, but since it came from her ...

'In case you are interested, that is the same as the one you'll have, Mr Lupin,' the seller added pointing at a piano at the other end of the shop.

Even from that distance, he could tell that the instrument was large, with a bit of luck it would fit in his tiny and nearly derelict cottage. They went through a door at the end of the shop and entered a dark corridor, Tonks pulled out her wand, lighting it and observing it better. Although it was not perfectly clean, both of them had been at Grimmauld Place when they just decided to make the Order's Headquarters and were not at all disgusted by these few spiders and their webs. A couple of minutes later they had finally reached their destination.

'This is the one reserved for you, Mr Lupin,' informed Higgs. 'Congratulations on your purchase.' With a big smile, he offered his hand out for Remus, who shook it awestruck. 'I must say, you have a great friend.'

'I do ...'

If the instrument seemed large a while back, it was nearly enormous then. He leant both hands on top of it after the man had left, trying to take in its size and heard a low chuckle from the girl beside him.

'More than you expected, isn't it, mate?' she said when their eyes met and he could not help but to chuckle along with her.

'Merlin ...' he sighed. 'Sometimes, I think I should just murder your cousin,' mocked Remus.

'Now, that would save me a whole bunch of work time!' she laughed, mocking all the suspicious Sirius had at the Auror Office.

Slowly he walked to the seat, sitting and feeling the keys beneath his fingertips. A melody he remembered from a few years ago was coming to him and he began to play, hitting black and white keys softly as he went.

'Wait! I ―'

Tonks looked at him with wide eyes and Remus grinned.

'I-I know it! It-It's ...'

'It's ...' he stimulated whilst still playing.

'Magic Works!'

'Exactly,' chuckled Remus.

'So, believe that magic works don' ―' Tonks began singing, but a suddenly wrong key stopped them.

'Sorry, I don't think I know it all and your cousin is better than I am,' he commented apologetically.

'Rubbish!' Tonks shook her head. 'I think you're great. Even with that one in the living-room, the last time Padfoot touched one of these was ― I don't know, Remus, yonks ago!'

'And when do you think I did?' he questioned with a lopsided smile that left Tonks at a loss of words.

'I― No, b-but you played it beautifully now ...' she emended, 'and just out of the top of your head.'

Remus looked at her as though he did not believe what she had just said.

'Just need a bit of practise,' she decided. 'Come on! We're taking it to your place, right?'

Practise, he recalled, was exactly what Sirius had said on the note he had attached the order to.

'Yes,' he agreed. 'It's probably best if I guide it.'

'All righty!' she nodded holding his hand tightly.

Then, they were both taken by the darkness of Apparition, keeping in mind their destination as well as taking the piano along with them. A minute later and they had appeared right before the beginning of the area Remus's charms would start working. A foot forwards and they would have found themselves in a bit of a trouble as the enchantments fired the alarm.

'Half a moment,' asked Remus, pointing his wand to the invisible barrier and started murmuring the counter-spells whilst Tonks checked the area in order to be sure that they were indeed by themselves. Before long he had disarmed the necessary ones for them to stow the piano and pushed the door open. 'Come on in,' he called still all too conscious of how grimy things were inside.

He closed the door behind her and they looked at the space that was left empty between the sofa and the wall across the room. It was indeed a tiny cottage, collecting dust amongst other things for at least six months. He supposed he could move away the couch and try to fit the piano there, but it would certainly make a contrast with every single other furniture within the house.

'So, are you any good on making one of those expanding charms or should we call Arthur?' she joked.

Remus chuckled slightly uncomfortable.

'Let's try pushing the sofa to ... here.'

He pointed the wall on their right, which would certainly open some space at the other end.

'_Wingardium leviosa_!''

With his wand, he tried to put the couch where he had previously indicated, but the width of the room was not enough and he was left with the furniture half-way.

'Remus, Remus, Remus!' Tonks called him, raising her hands, asking him to stop.

He glanced at her wondering what he had done wrong and she approached him.

'Why don't we ...?'

She waved her wand and the sofa shrank to the size of an armchair, she then moved the furniture to the other end of the room with ease.

_Clever, _Remus thought.

Thereafter, he tried to measure if the space would be enough for the instrument left outside. He calculated the width of the room to have around 5 feet, if that much, perhaps a bit less. Had he been right, there would be left only a few inches on each side, definitely not even enough for someone to pass by it. But then again, why would someone want to go to either of his drawing-room's corners? He could always Apparate if strictly necessary.

'That should do.'

He walked outside followed by her and together they Apparated the piano inside, precisely at the spot they had prepared for it.

And done. Everything falling to pieces but a brand new, shiny piano.

Tonks stopped herself from laughing. It was crystal clear that the Grand Piano IV from the Wizarding Instruments Supplies did not match either of the other items Remus had within his drawing-room, nor in the whole cottage for that matter. Still, it seemed to her as though it was the only thing that saved the entire house and it somehow saddened her. He deserved much better and she could not blame Sirius, had she had as much gold as he did, she, too, would want to give him as much as she could and more, a brand new house even. Why not?

'Now it just needs a pianist,' she pointed out, picturing Remus in a jet black dinner jacket playing more beautifully than he had done back at the shop. And what a nice view he was.

'I must bring Sirius around one day then,' he grinned and she rolled her eyes.

'Practise,' she reminded him before changing the subject, 'but I need something else.'

'What?'

Remus gazed at her then, paying particular attention.

'It's my mum's birthday in a couple of days,' Tonks told him, 'she says she doesn't want anything and she's not gonna have a party or anything, but I wanted to give her something.'

'Jewellery is the traditional gift for w―'

'I know, I know!' affirmed Tonks. 'It's just that it's not exactly― I wanted to give her something different,' she awaited a moment, 'a book and I thought I could get an idea from you,' she grinned.

He smiled graciously at her.

'What kind of book does your mother like?'

'Um, _books_?' she mocked. 'I kid! Um, not sure, though, gimme some romance and I bet she'll like it.'

'I'll give you a short list, is that all right?' he asked stepping away. 'You can see what's best for her or what the shop has ...'

'Perfect.'

'Let me get a quill.'

Remus walked towards the kitchen and a minute later he was scribing down on a piece of parchment. Tonks walked back to the sofa, restoring its usual size or perhaps a bit larger than it was at first, she sat on it and without thinking it through, without giving too much thought into it, she glanced at him still writing before taking the five Galleons that were in her pocket and carefully inserted her hand between the cushions and let them fall. She pulled her hand out of it just when he came folding the parchment in half and handed it to her.

'Cheers!' she exclaimed thanking him with a wide smile as she unfolded it to check the titles.

'Don't mention it,' he shook his head lightly. 'You've helped me here, it was the least I could do.'

'Shall we?' Tonks tilted her head towards the door and slipped the parchment into her pocket.

'Just need a moment to cast the spells.'

'Oh, sure!' She smiled and he hurried to open the door for her.

Before he left the house, Remus waved at the piano, casting an Unbreakable Charm; one could never be too careful when turning into a vicious creature was part of their monthly routine. As they left, Remus spared a quick glance towards his garden used to be and one more time Tonks kept guard, paying attention to every single movement of the leaves on the trees nearby whilst Remus occupied himself with several murmured enchantments to conceal the few treasured possessions he had and that now had one more special item he would never have guessed he would one day actually have. The minute he finished, he laid his eyes upon her and she reached out for his hand so they could, together, vanish into thin air and reappear a second later before the Order's Headquarters.

'So ...' Tonks reached for her hair and let it grow a couple of inches more so she could get a lock and twist it in her fingers. 'Have a nice evening.'

Before Remus could fully furrow his brows, she had lifted the piece of parchment he had just given her and smiled.

'Good night,' he paused and let the following word fill his mouth, 'Dora.'

Merlin, why did it sound so special?

'See you around, Rem.'

She had Disapparated the next instant and Remus entered the Grimmauld Place; his heart had swelled to twice its size, but had not felt this light in many years.

Thinking he ought to try and apologise to Sirius, Remus put away the goofy grin, climbed up the staircase to the last landing and knocked on the door of Walburga's old room.

'_Squawck!_' Buckbeak was the only one who answered him.

'Sirius?'

Nothing.

'Padfoot.'

'_Squawck! Squawck!_'

'Come on, mate, it's m―' He opened the door, but with the exception of Buckbeak and a few leftovers of dead rats, the room was empty.

Remus closed the door and went to Sirius's room.

'Sirius?' he called, but did not waste any time waiting for answers and opened the door.

Empty.

He passed by Kreacher cleaning Mrs Black's painting with a filthy cloth and went downstairs. Kitchen. Empty. Pantry. Empty. Drawing-room. Empty. Library. Empty. His heart was beating faster and he had begun feeling nervous. He couldn't have ... He wouldn't ... Dining-room. Empty. Living-room. Empty. Kreacher's bedroom. Empty. Every. Single. Bedroom. Empty.

'Kreacher,' he muttered having walked back to where the House-elf was, 'where's Sirius?'

'And now the half-breed is talking to Kreacher. Um, what Kreacher's mistress would say? Kreacher better not answer the werewolf. No.'

'Kreacher, please.'

'Begging, yes, he is. Kreacher wonders how Master Sirius's friend doesn't know he's left.'

'_Sirius left?_' Remus used every single fibre in his body to not scream in surprise. 'To where?'

'Master Sirius doesn't tell Kreacher where he goes when he leaves.'

'_It's not the first time?_'

He was well aware that Sirius had left on Halloween, but he had the feeling it was not quite what Kreacher had meant.

'And Kreacher shouldn't be seen talking to the filthy werewolf, Kreacher should go.' The House-elf climbed down the stairs towards the tiny place he called bedroom and Remus was left alone.

Letting himself fall upon the step, Remus put his head between his hands. He had come to the Grimmauld Place to make Sirius some company and instead he had not even realised that Sirius was leaving the house on his own, undoubtedly in his Animagus form. At least about that he needed not to worry. Merlin, but he was the worst friend on Earth. If Dumbledore found out ... What had he done?

* * *

><p>'First stop: Flourish &amp; Blotts,' Tonks told herself.<p>

Back at the Wizarding street she had left about an hour before, she trousered her hands and reached for her gold, finding only the letter of her friend Liv (which had as its last sentence 'How's Remus?', a habit she began to have since she had come to London, entered the Order and met the werewolf, deciding Dora liked him as more than just a friend, not that she knew he was a werewolf anyway), she realised she had left it all at Remus's. She sighed. Well, it was all for a good cause. With a wave of her wand, Tonks summoned her vault's key.

'First stop: Gringotts.'

She entered the Wizarding bank and something whistled. She reached for the pocket Sneakscope Moody had convinced her to have with her at all times saying 'the annoyance would pay off when it alerted her about an enemy.' Sighing, she silenced it, put it back in her pocket, got the key and headed to the closest goblin, which looked at her as though she was disturbing him from the most important task of his life.

'Wotcher!' she smiled in hope to lighten his mood a bit. 'I'd like to make a withdrawal.'

'Name. Key. Vault,' he demanded in its pitched voice.

'Nymphadora Tonks,' she informed him, letting the key fall upon the counter. 'Vault 10360.'

The goblin got the key with its abnormally long fingers, took a good look at it and spurted out of the seat.

'Follow me.'

Tonks went after him out of the hall and onto the cart. Half a minute later they had stopped before her vault. Yet another advantage of not belonging in a traditional pure-blood family, no need to waste half an hour on going down under to one of those huge vaults like she knew Sirius had, much easier and faster to get your gold from your vault. Also easier to rob, one could argue, but nobody would be mad enough to steal from Gringotts, even the less buried vaults. Although she would be lying if she said that she never wanted to take a ride down there to see what it looked like and still held a grudge against Bogragnok, the bastard goblin that did not take her seven-year-old self down under just for her to see what it was like. He got the key swirled it into the keyhole, the next instant she was looking at her rather big pile of gold. She walked in, got two handfuls of golden coins, put them in her pockets and left. The goblin closed the vault and soon enough they were back at the hall.

Tonks headed straight to the Flourish & Blotts, where there was a sign by the showcase indicating that Modern Magical History was on sale for just a Galleon and three Sickles. She noticed the shop was rather empty and a young woman walked towards her with a smiling face, a nice change from the grumpy goblin.

'What can a help you with?'

'Hi, I'd like to― here.' She handed her the parchment Remus had written. 'D'you have any of those?'

'Um,' she ran her eyes upon the books' titles, 'all of them, if I'm not mistaken. Let me fetch them for you.'

'Great,' grinned Tonks. 'Think I'll walk around a bit.'

'Sure.' She nodded before disappearing between two tall shelves.

Tonks gadded towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts Section feeling as though Mad-Eye would be extremely proud just to see her there, doing some research on what was new on their field and so she began checking the books. _Dark Wizards of the Twentieth Century_, she had re― well, began to read it, not like it really mattered who they were. _Important Modern Magical Discoveries_, this one Moody had made sure she had read. And the next as well, _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_, from the first to the last page and then backwards. Toppled beside it there was _Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy_, which she had checked for Sirius's tapestry, though she wondered what exactly it was doing in that section, maybe some Muggle-born thought pure-blood wizards were something they ought to defend themselves from. Just underneath the latter she noticed a somewhat dusted book, which did not seem exactly new, she rubbed her thumb on its side to put away some of the dust. _Hairy Snout, Human Heart_, she read. Curious. On seeing the front she noticed that it read Anonymous Author above Whizz Hard Books, 1990.

'Oh, there you are!' grinned the young woman as she appeared at the end of the shelf carrying some books with her. 'Here, so this,' she got the top book, 'is the first volume of the Enchanted Encounters, we've got the whole series, though, in case you're in interested in all of them. Think I can manage a good discount. But I'm not making promises. Second: _How to Unfog Your Feelings_, it's quite interesting, follows a young girl up to her adulthood―'

Tonks's attention had never been totally on the seller. She turned the book in her hands and started to read the description on the back: 'It all starts with a bite. A bite and your life is not the same, nor will it ever be. That blood running on your skin is yours, but not as it used to be. It's cursed. That creature you just saw fleeing is not just something in text books. It's you from now on. That is your life. Pain and prejudice. You'll spend the rest of your days trying to convince everyone that despite your hairy snout, you still have a human heart.' One of the Daily Prophet's reviews indicated it to be 'a heart-rending account of one wizard's battle against lycanthropy' or so it read.

And the woman was still talking.

'I'm sorry, what's your name?' Tonks looked straight into her eyes, cutting her short.

'Maggie,' she answered somewhat confused after a pause.

'Okay, Maggie, thanks for all of them, but I'll take the first one,' said Tonks grabbing the top volume and reading its title. 'Enchanted Encounters, volume one, yes and also this,' she added showing the book she had.

'All right, let me just―' Maggie reached for her wand and waved to the other books, sending them flying to their rightful place and got the one Tonks had been holding with a smile. 'Follow me, please.'

They went to the counter with Tonks paying special attention to not trip on every pile of forgotten books in their way. There, Maggie turned the book around in her hand a couple of times.

'It's a bit dusty, do you rather me to fetch you another one?' Tonks shook her head smiling. Maggie called one of her colleagues and showed her the copy of Hairy Snout, Human Heart in her hand. 'Do you know how much is this? There's no price labelled.'

The other woman narrowed her eyes to the book before shaking her head.

'Better ask Parker,' she decided before yelling, 'Parks, how much is Hairy Snout, Human Heart?'

The man named Parker appeared behind one of the shelves, frowning.

'Hairy Snout, Human Heart ...' he pondered. 'Dunno, check the list.'

Apparently not many people were interested on reading about how human a werewolf can be, Tonks realised.

Maggie then materialised a scroll of parchment and searched all the way downwards for the ones that started with H.

'Here. Hairy Snout, Human Heart: 14 Sickles. And the 2 Galleons from the other one.' She smiled.

Not interested indeed since it was cheaper than the one on sale and the last edition had been over five years before.

Tonks paid her, got both books and finally returned to the snowy street. She made her way to the Slug & Jiggers just in time to see Rachel saying goodbye to another employee of the shop and smiled at her.

'Oh, look! My last customer,' Rachel invited her in and waved her wand, locking the door. 'What did you buy?' she asked noticing Tonks's parcel.

'A couple of books, one for me: Hairy Snout, Human Heart. Seemed like it had been lost in there forever. And a little something for Mum,' she told her. 'Have you read Enchanted Encounters? Reckon she'll like it?'

Rachel came close to see the books Tonks had bought and apparently to ignore her questions. She grasped the book from her friend's hand not entirely in a polite manner.

'This is what I've been meaning to talk to you.'

'A book I didn't even kn―'

'No, not the book! I mean, not exactly.' Rachel bit her lip, looking apprehensively at Tonks. 'Is there anything you wanna tell me?'

'... As in?' she pushed on, wondering what she meant.

'As in why you're suddenly so interested on the bloody Wolfsbane!' she replied.

'I, um, it's nothing, I just really think the taste's awful 'cause―'

'Bet it is,' Rachel stopped her, 'only the Dora I knew could barely remember the day it was, but now you come here with this book and― and precise dates of full moons and saying the taste of a potion you would _never_ have a reason to come close to is bloody awful and―' All of a sudden she looked frightened at Tonks and pulled out her wand, setting up a Silencing spell. 'They're making you work with them, aren't they? That Order people?' she whispered, but did not wait for an answer. 'Dora, please, they're dangerous. I don't doubt you're an amazing Auror, but you can't just go out there facing werewolves, what good would it―'

'Wow! Slow down, Rach, slow down a bit.' Tonks took a step back. 'I'm not, but you know very well that even if I was working undercover with werewolves I could not tell you,' she brought forth.

'Have you worked with them before then? Why do you know so much? I―'

'Rach, please,' Tonks stopped her. 'Besides, they're not dangerous unless they've turned! That's what the book's about! You would never know, there could have been one in the shop today or it could be someone you know for ages and you wouldn't have a clue!'

'Blimey, you― I― Blimey! _Dora, you were bit?_' she asked in an almost accusatory murmur despite the spell she had set upon the room.

'I wasn― _I was not bit!_' answered Tonks nearly angry.

'What would you have answered if you were?' questioned Rachel in a clever way. 'Look, Merlin's beard, I-I can't get you the potion if―'

'Rachel, stop!' ordered Tonks. 'That's pants! I was not bit,' she stated before asking honestly concerned, 'Where you getting these barking mad ideas?'

For a moment they just stared in each other's eyes, trying desperately to see if the other was holding a deep secret. And they did not know if the spell was the reason behind the weighting silence within the shop, where the only sounds heard were their breaths slowing coming in and out.

'Prove it.'

In that instant Tonks could see all her insecurities, all her fears that one of her best friends had become something else. She wondered if she would have reacted the same way if Remus had been bit when they were already friends and she realised she liked to think that would always be there for him and stop Fenrir Greyback from ever getting to him. The Auror asked herself how Rachel would behave if she knew that indeed there was a werewolf in the shop earlier that day. Unfortunately she knew that her friend would not be as friendly, no matter how much Tonks argued that he was a great bloke. It felt like there was something else bothering Rachel, not only the uncertainty of knowing whether she was a werewolf or not, almost as if they were back at Hogwarts and she was teaching her Defence Against the Dark Arts in exchange for some help in Potions.

'What do you want me to do?' Tonks asked nicely. 'Here I am not turning into a werewolf for you,' she grinned hoping to put a smile upon her friend's face.

However, she never got what she expected for all Rachel did then was avoid her gaze purposely while chewing on her bottom lip, wishing Tonks would hear what she could not say. With the weight of her friend's unsaid words upon her, she agreed silently. There was but one way to prove her wrong.

'Fine then,' concurred Tonks. 'The 4th of February, my place, six o'clock sharp, you can tell me all about when Finn proposed. And no. No hiding the sordid details. I want 'em all! Especially the ones from ... _afterwards_.' Winking, Tonks started to walk backwards towards the exit of the shop. 'Owl Lucy, would you? Been meaning to talk with her for ages and I haven't seen her in months! Wouldn't want to miss the chance.' She smiled. 'Cheers!'

* * *

><p>Two days later all that talk about her being a lycanthrope was out of her mind at least until Rachel's insecurities were gone. Tonks had just begun catching up with all the paperwork she had to do, but after so many field works, her memories were beginning to jumble. She was sure that Mrs Youdle's interrogation had been before their pursuit on Edgar Punkeby, but it would not make sense that Mr Plunkett had mentioned the Daily Prophet's article since it had been printed on the fourteenth.<p>

'Don't worry, partner, I've arrived and all your problems are solved. You're in for a great morning,' grinned Savage nearing her.

'Great, you're here!' exclaimed Tonks not sparing him more than a quick glance. 'Look, Sav, did we really interrogate Mrs Youdle before Punkeby's chase? 'Cause I thought so bu―'

'I'll answer that if you answer my question first.'

Frowning slightly, she withdrew her eyes from her report to look at him. Savage did not have an ugly face to look at, brunet, green eyes and at that moment a smug smirk, like he wanted something. He pulled some paper from the inside of his scarlet robes before getting down to one knee.

'Will you be my valentine?' he asked, holding a couple of white tickets in his open hand.

Tonks stared at them for a good ten seconds before opening her mouth and closing it back again. Reaching for them she noticed the dither in her hand. It was not possible. They had seen it at the Prophet and she remembered it only too well. ALL TICKETS BOOKED FOR THE WEIRD SISTERS' NEXT MONTH'S TOUR.

'How did you ...?'

'You're asking more questions, but still haven't answered mine.'

'Yes!' She clutched the tickets in her hands. 'Yes! Yes! Yes!'

Savage laughed while standing up with Tonks grabbing his neck tightly.

'Knew you'd love the surprise.'

'But how?' insisted Tonks letting him go. 'They were all booked and―'

'I happen to know the right people,' he grinned. 'Have a couple of mates in charge of the sound and the background stuff. Starkey's mocking finally paid off.'

'I'm all yours on Valentine's Day. Hell, you can have my soul from now on!' She still could barely believe what she was seeing.

'Yeah ... No, thanks.' Savage shook his head. 'Buy me lunch one of these days and we're good.'

'Deal!'

'But I think I'll have those for the time being.' Warily he reached for the tickets, but Tonks did not stop him. 'Your clumsiness might forget them in your pocket and then wash them and there goes our night.'

'So long you don't rip them in pieces or something, you can do as you please.'

'As to your first question, no, Punkeby's chase was in the morning, we stopped at the Charming Café for that bacon butty, meanwhile the Daily Prophet wrote the article on it, then we interrogated Mrs Youdle's, Plunkett read the article on the Evening Prophet and it was about five when we finally made it to his place.'

'Of course!' she exclaimed reaching for her report and the article on her desk. 'That butty though ...'

'Yes, valentine, that was the best and most important part of our day.' He smiled mimicking a smitten boyfriend.

Tonks rolled her eyes at him, not caring that the pile of paperwork would only increase during that day she only wondered if she would be able to focus entirely on it when she knew that she would be going for The Weird Sisters' gig.

On that evening, Tonks Apparated at her parents' doorstep with a crimson hair and her mother's gift inside her coat's pocket, she knew the book would be some great changing from the blouse she had bought her on Christmas. Not long after she had knocked, the door swung open to reveal Andromeda utterly beautiful in bottle green robes.

'You're looking stunning, Mrs Tonks,' she grinned and hugged her mother tightly before Andromeda could fire her a glare. 'Happy birthday, Mum!'

'Oh, thank you, love.' She embraced her daughter for a moment before letting her go.

'Been trying to tell her that all day, you know?' said Ted coming from the hall. 'And you don't look, you _are_ stunning, Mrs Tonks,' he added clearly enjoying the way her surname made her, his wife and placing a long kiss upon her lips.

'Am I badgering?' asked Tonks taking a step back, ''Cause I can just, you know, come back later or―'

'You are never a bother,' remarked Andromeda, hurrying her daughter inside and closing the door whilst her father shot her a smirk. 'Nor will you ever be.'

Tonks was unconvinced; if by any chance ― or mistake, most likely ― she ended up having children, she did think they would be a bother if they were around whenever she wanted to ... _celebrate_.

She placed her muffer upon the hanger before taking her cloak and coat off as well and following her parents out of the hall. Soon Ted had let himself fall on the couch whilst Andromeda headed towards the kitchen.

'Not waiting for anyone else, are you?' Tonks asked.

'Nah ...' her father answered, 'same thing as ever.'

Traditionally, Andromeda's birthday parties were the complete opposite of Ted's or Dora's, that was, if anyone could call a party when it was just the three of them. Since the day she had been disowned, her mother had had no contact with the Blacks, with the obvious exception of Sirius; moreover, she had never been one to have many friends. Although Ted and Dora were always encouraging her to have other people over, Andromeda always politely refused arguing she needed no one else but the two more important people in her life; however she did not win so often and every now and again, her mother would invite a couple of ladies from work.

'So, what did you think of the match last night?' enquired Ted.

'Easy peasy,' she shrugged. 'The Catapults haven't been playing that well, have they? Almost as bad as the Cannons, they've been.'

'Now that would be a surprise, wouldn't it? Seeing the Cannons finish the season in front of the Catapults!' her father laughed loudly and she could not help but to laugh with him.

At that moment Andromeda came in with a couple of Butterbeers in her hands, taking both stoppers off, she offered one to her husband and the other to her daughter. The warmth of the drink was welcoming and she settled herself between them on the sofa.

'What's so funny?' she questioned before taking Ted's Butterbeer from his hand and sipping on it.

'Quidditch,' Tonks answered, 'the way the Cannons might not finish in last this year.'

Andromeda rolled her eyes.

'Always the same, isn't it?'

'No, it isn't, love,' retorted Ted. 'The Cannons have been finishing last for ages! We might witness a historical event!'

Both of them burst out laughing yet again and Andromeda muttered under her breath, 'Incorrigible.'

'Hey, who's supporting me every bloody Sunday, huh?' Ted frowned. 'Who grins and kisses me whenever the Magpies score? An-and whose idea it was to by Dora that onesie, eh?'

At his last question Tonks's eyebrows rose and she blinked a few times utterly surprised. And it was her mother's turn to place a kiss upon her husband's lips.

'Wow! A-are you _serious_?' she yelped. 'You did? _You_?'

'Yes,' answered Andromeda, breaking the kiss and sitting more upright, 'I did. Surprising as it is, your dear mother knows a thing or two about what her daughter would like.'

'Didn't mean it like that!' contested Tonks. 'I was just surprised, s'all. It was 22 years ago! I mean ― Come on! You gotta admit it fits perfectly like one of dad's ideas.'

'Suppose it means he changed me a bit then.' She half-smiled and Ted mirrored her action. 'Now, excuse me, you two, the food is nearly ready.'

Andromeda made her way to the kitchen and had just opened the cooker when her daughter approached her.

'Whatcha doing?' grinned Tonks.

'Seafood soufflé,' she said, pulling her wand and making it float next to the sink.

'Need help?'

Andromeda did not bother with an answer and simply glared at her.

'What? I'll be careful!' she promised.

'It's done, darling,' her mother pointed to the dish. 'See?'

'Then I'll take it,' decided Tonks levitating soufflé and stepping away from Andromeda.

'Nymphadora!'

Tonks, for her mother's sake, pretended not to be ticked off by her mention of her name and continued her way towards the dinner table.

'**Dad!**' she shouted. 'Dinner's ready!'

Ted came shambling to where they were, rubbing his large belly and sipping on his Butterbeer. As soon as the soufflé landed upon the table, Andromeda had a knife in her hand, moved towards it and began to cut large slices.

'Merlin! Almost forgot!' grinned Tonks before running to the hall and back in a few long strides with the book she had in her coat's pocket. 'Hope you like it!' she said kissing her mother on the cheek and offering the gift to her.

Andromeda smiled, shaking her head whilst murmuring she did not need to gift her with anything and started to unwrap it, so carefully her daughter nearly jumped at her and ripped it apart just to see how her mother would react, if she would like it or say it was one of her favourites and had a copy upon her bedside table or yet if she had read a long time ago before she had even met her father.

'Well ...?' insisted Tonks.

'Oh, um, it's ... nice,' answered Andromeda turning it to see the description in the back.

'... Nice as in "I hate this book, but I don't want to hurt you"?' wondered Tonks.

'No!' Andromeda denied, stepping closer to her and cupping her cheek. 'Of course not, darling.'

Tonks blinked a couple of times as she awaited her mother to examine the item and explain.

'I used to have this book,' she began taking her seat. 'Not exactly mine, though, Mother had it and I was going to read it; the whole series, in fact. However,' she looked at Ted reaching for his hand and he took hers in his lovingly 'your father and I decided to get married and I never came back.'

'So ... after all these years,' Tonks summarised, 'you never read it? Never bought it or borrowed it to read?'

Andromeda shook her head.

'Must be nice to read it now that I have you and our family is well structured,' she smiled. 'No more ghosts from the past to haunt.'

It still shocked her how both her parents every now and then thought of her as a little girl, even though she had not been a child for over a decade.

'I can change it if you want 'cause you know, it's just a book.' Tonks bit her lower lip.

'Rubbish!' stated Andromeda. 'I said no more ghosts to haunt so I'll read. Now, hand me your plate, we don't want dinner to get cold.'

Once they all had food on their plates, Ted got a glass of wine and raised it.

'A toast in honour of the w―' he paused and looked at the Tonks in front of him, 'the _first_ woman of my life.'

Was it just him or every father was a master on putting a blush upon their daughters' cheeks?

'Cheers!'

What followed that was a lovely family dinner like they did not have in quite a while with the three of them enjoying a wonderful seafood soufflé cooked by Andromeda accompanied by some more excited conversation about the Quidditch League and which team would win, for they surely cheered for the Magpies, but with the Tornadoes winning nearly every single one of their matches, it was certainly a challenge. A couple of hours later when not only the soufflé had vanished from their plates, but the Tonkses' Cake as well and the conversation had died, Andromeda stood up and began gathering the dirty cutlery. However, Ted stopped her when he placed his large hand on top of hers.

'You've done enough for today, love,' he decided.

'Just the―' Andromeda started to argue, but then continued as if begging for her husband to let her finish. 'One last washing up and I'll be done.'

'Dromeda, honestly, it's your birthday.'

'Yes, thank you for that input,' she said stubbornly, 'and I don't want to leave it all for the morning. I'd be late for work and―'

Ted then placed his lips firmly upon hers one more time and heard their daughter exhale heavily whilst getting up and knocking the chair down on the process.

'All right. You two are too lovingly for my taste today, so I'll be going,' Tonks attested, lifting the chair back to its place. 'I've got an early shift tomorrow either way. I can see myself out,' she added noting her father's smug smirk.

''M just asking for a sink filled with dirty dishes for once!'

'I've left plenty of dirty sinks!' Andromeda sounded hurt.

'Yep!' Tonks nodded to herself as she entered the hall on her way out, rolling her eyes, but smiling in spite of everything.

She had never really understood how they could argue over the washing up. If anyone ever wanted to do the washing up for her then by all means! Let them have fun! But no, Ted and Andromeda had this way ... There was something different about them, she was sure of it, they had something special, she could hear it in the whispers that came from the room she had just left, which she was willing to bet that consisted of her mother silently scolding her father whilst he tried his best to convince her to let it go. Not that she really wanted to listen to the murmurs anyway. Maybe it had something to do with how much they had to go through for their relationship to work. Maybe it made them all the more sure of how much they wanted to be together for the rest of their lives. Maybe if the start is difficult, so will be for it to end. And if that really was true, she would go through quite a lot to have what her parents had to have a solid relationship. Well, if someone was worth it ... Musing, she had just put on her coat and when she was closing her cloak she noticed a red card upon the table nearby and as it was the costume, her curiosity got the best of her.

_Dearest Dromeda,_

_I can't begin to thank you for all these years. I knew, of course, that night when I asked you to marry me that I would never get tired of you, but I could never have foreseen just how much.  
><em>_If I stare a while longer, I still get lost in these dazzling blue eyes of yours. If I daydream a while longer, I still drool at the thought of you. If I remember a while longer, I still hear your warm voice in my ears. If I focus a while longer, I still smell you right next to me.  
><em>_I sound like a naff teenager in love, I know. Forgive me, but I still feel like one.  
><em>_You and I built something together that had been denied from you from the start and that magic nearly took away from me, a family, a wonderful family. I could not have hoped for it to turn out better. I couldn't have done it by myself, but neither could have you, I'm aware of it. So, thank you for completing me in every possible way. Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for choosing me. I vowed to not let you regret that decision for a single minute and I do hope I have succeeded this far. I love you and I always will. I'm here for you and I always will be._

_Happy birthday, my love._

_Always in my thoughts,_

_Your Ted_

Right then, Tonks wondered if she would ever have, one day, someone to share that kind of beautiful words with. True she knew that by her age, her parents were already married and she had yet to find a boyfriend she loved so dearly since her experiences of dates at Hogwarts did not turn out so fine as theirs. Though, one day ... who knew? Perhaps there was someone out there to do this kind of cheesy thing for her, but one thing was certain: they could argue over Quidditch and she would most definitely make of him a Magpies fan like she had done with Remus or they could argue over who would cook ― or in her case, burn ― the dinner, but they would never argue over who would _not_ do the washing up.

* * *

><p><strong>AN2:** There, a bit of Tedromeda for you guys because I couldn't really resist. xD Besides, every Remadora shipper I know is also a Tedromeda, just not as hard. ^^ Before you go, leave what you thought of this chapter in the box bellow, please? ;) Thanks!


	34. 33 Confronting Friends

**A/N:** Hello, guys! I might have a new favourite chapter! lalala But something tells me it won't be for long because the next ... Oh god! xD  
>Anyway, thank you for your brilliant reviews! I really do love all of you and I'd love if you could take your time to write one for this chapter, 'kay? Thanks! Also, I've added a decent prologue so if you guys wanna check it out ... I'll keep the edited chapters there so it's easier to keep track.<p>

Enjoy!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 33: Confronting Friends<strong>

Remus could never decide if he dreaded the full moon or if he wished it to come and get over with it for the month being. As the week approached, he began to feel the effects upon his body increasing each day until they culminated to the fatidic day when his muscles ached for relief and even a simple movement such as reaching for a wand upon the bedside table was unpleasant. He did not bother with breakfast as he was tired and barely hungry, that was actually his plan throughout the entire day. He wondered if Kreacher had bothered with lunch at all since Sirius had pretty much avoided him like the dragon pox since he had tried to confront him about his nightmares three weeks before. Oddly enough said day kept replaying inside his mind, the argument, Tonks stopping them, the ruined friendship and the few hours he spent with her then, those were certainly the ones that pleased him the most, but that bit he could not find odd considering the alternative would be Sirius's refusal to admit what his bad dreams were about.

He could not help to find amusing the fact that around noon, he heard his best friend singing as he walked through the corridors of the house; certainly thinking that Remus had to watch the prophecy all day long and he had the house for himself.

The grandfather clock downstairs had just hit five in the afternoon when Remus Lupin finally went out of his room. In the kitchen, he met Sirius, pouring himself a cup of tea whilst humming a song and sounding all too happy, which he knew could not mean that Severus had already brought his last dose of Wolfsbane. There was still over an hour to the moonrise, Snape certainly was busy, he had not only the Order and his usual job like most members, but his work with the Death Eaters and now Harry's lessons of Occlumency. Something as trivial as Remus's sanity during the full moon needed not to be taken as a priority. He would rather Harry to learn to defend himself than keep his mind whilst in werewolf form.

'You're in a good mood,' remarked Remus.

'Moony!' he grinned swirling on his heels. 'No offence, mate, but I've seen ghosts that looked better than you. Fancy a cuppa?'

'Sure,' he agreed noticing that Sirius had purposely not made any comment about his statement as he poured his tea. 'Since you're not acting like a right old nark, I take it the bad dreams are gone then.'

'Not entirely.' Sirius shrugged sipping on his tea and handing Remus a mug. 'But the reason my arse-ache is gone for the time being is that the last dream, my friend, was followed by a five against one.' He smirked raising his brows.

Remus stopped midway to reaching the milk bottle, but Sirius ignored his glare and his body-language altogether.

'Me, Emmeline and my wild imagination. Reckon she wouldn't resist this.' He looked down his torso. 'Who would, eh?'

A fiercely closed pair of eyes would have been enough for most people to stop talking, but Sirius was not most people so he hooked the chair backwards with his foot and sat.

'Oh, she gives such good head!' He sharpened a deep breath enjoying the moment. 'Bit older than us so she really knows what she's doing and during the vinegar strokes she's practically dancing on top of me –'

'Fine,' stated Remus after having putting the milk and the sugar on his tea. 'Right there is just fine for it is already a mystery how I shall face Emmeline on our next meeting.'

'Please, Moony, you're the best liar to ever exist.' Sirius rolled his eyes. 'You can look me in the eye, straight up your face and say that you're not werewolf and even I'd believe you.'

Remus slowly raised the mug to his lips, blew the surface of the tea and swallowed a small sip. He had yet to figure out if being a great liar was a good or a bad effect of lycanthropy; he hated lying, that much he was sure of. He could not deny however, that it was lying about his condition that had given him most of his jobs and thus had allowed him to put some food in his stomach. He had no choice, it was something he had to learn in order to just keep living.

'Now onto important matters,' he decided. 'They're about Azkaban, aren't they?'

Sirius nearly choked on his tea and it was clear that he was cursing every Lupin generation he could think of even though not a word left his mouth. Instead, he simply lowered his mug and pretended to be interested on looking at every china with the Black Family's crest he owned. Well, if that was what he wanted, they could play the silence game for as long as he wanted to. Remus, putting up all his calm, sipped on his tea and made no further comment. He did not spare a glimpse to the clock or showed any kind of intention to get out of the room. Sirius, on the other hand, was getting more fidgety by the minute, glancing at every inch of the kitchen, from the ceiling to its tiles, and drinking the tea faster just to keep himself busy. Remus did not know for how long exactly they stood there without exchanging a single word, he silently thanked the quiet time he had to rest a while longer, thanked the snow that were no longer falling despite the heavy rain outside still not being the best weather for his joints at that time of the month. Eventually even Sirius's trouble to admit defeat would shred, he had never been one to stand quite long silences, he needed to fill it with something, anything, even if it was the content of the dreams he had been having lately. At one point, Sirius's eyes showed that he wanted to simply get over with it. _Just like a visit to the Healer._

'All right, all right! Yes, they are!' He glared at Remus clearly asking, _Happy?_

'And the frequency?'

'Yeah, you know,' Sirius shrugged pouring himself another cup of tea, 'every now and again.'

Even after all those years, he knew him perfectly well. _So predictable._ Remus simply narrowed his eyes while glancing at his best friend until Sirius gave up and rolled his eyes again.

'... Most nights.'

'Didn't manage to escape in them, did you?'

'_What's this? An enquiry?_' Sirius demanded.

'Well, you could just go ahead and tell me all about them, saving me the trouble of asking the questions.' He shot at Sirius a quite innocent gaze. 'Would it still be an enquiry then?'

Sirius exhaled heavily.

'More like being shoved back in there,' he confessed. 'Had them since I got out, quite rarely though. Now ... with all those Death Eaters on the loose ... it's ... it's got worse and if Voldemort wasn't controlling the Dementors, I'd bet anything that they'd be right outside my door.'

Remus spared him the pity look because he believed that there were very few things worse than it, no one deserved that kind of pity. So until he could face Sirius with an impassive face, he tightened the grip around his mug, which had been just a tiny bit stronger, the porcelain would have broken. Still there was something that made absolutely no sense.

'Why do you leave then?' he questioned. 'If you are so disturbed by the perspective of being back there, why do you keep taking the chance of being caught?'

'Because that's nearly all I can think of when I'm here,' explained Sirius, 'that I can't leave because I'll get caught and thrown back there again, that I'm stuck here with that balmy hag of a mother and a House-Elf out of its box because I don't want to be back in Azkaban. Being _here_ itself is not the worst, but I'm useless – Don't tell me the whole "someone needs to be at the Order's Headquarters at all times" crap. At least when I'm out there it's almost like I'm a free man, I can go about wherever I want. Eventually your ever so correct voice of reason brings me back with a white snout, barely feeling my paws and a frozen arse, hence I'm still here.'

He had yet to experiment a Numbing Charm, but at that moment, Remus thought he did not need one to know the feeling. He had officially won the worst friend award. It was as though he was not even there. Mrs Black's portrait and Kreacher were better company to Sirius than he was, than Nymphadora was. Blimey, just thinking about her brought his skin on fire, shaking his every muscle despite his fight for control.

'I'm sorry, Sirius. I never thought –'

'Betrayed James and Lily, did you?' Sirius asked sipping on his tea. 'Not your fault, Moony.'

Of course he hadn't, but it was worse ...

'I could've –'

'What you could and still can, as a matter of fact, is tell me, when was the last time you had a good wank yourself.'

The growl escaped his lips before he was aware he could have stopped it. He was shaking, shaking all over. The mug in his hand shattered and he knew that the burning sensation had very little to do with the spilled tea on his front. It had just started and there was already blood on his hands. Pain hit him as his limbs began to elongate and fur grew upon every inch of his thickening skin. He could not destroy the perfect Headquarters the Order had fought to have. How many times could one fail his mentor before his faith was gone? It was too late.

'Sirius,' he murmured under his laboured breath, 'please.'

The desperate need of asking for help took over him even though not even Remus knew what could have been done to help him. All he knew was that when he saw that man running towards him, he had to ... But apparently Sirius knew that there was nothing to be done for the last thing he saw was a huge black dog jumping in his direction before green flames engulfed him.

* * *

><p>The doorbell rang at precisely six in the afternoon and the maroon door swung open half a minute later. Rachel Wright have always been the perfect example of punctuality; countless would have been the times in which she would have got late in classes if it weren't for her desperate cries for her friend to hurry up and get ready back at their Common Room. In fact, she would not find it odd if she had been outside waiting for the clock to reach six before pressing the button. The surprise came when Tonks saw not only Rachel, but Lucy as well. It had been several months since they last saw each other and the sight of her friend put a wide grin upon her face. It did not matter that she was visibly thinner or that she had probably been working more than it was legal, but she was not exactly in condition to tell anyone to work less with the amount of work she had to do lately not only for the Auror Office, but for the Order of the Phoenix as well.<p>

'So glad you made it!' exclaimed Tonks hugging Lucy tightly for an instant before letting her friend go. 'I take it Rachel filled you in then? You ought to take care, it's very dangerous.'

'Tried to tell her this is barking mad,' said Lucy, 'that I wouldn't even be here if I thought it was true. But guess who just wouldn't listen?'

'Oh, look, it's like I'm not even here,' commented Rachel.

'So you're willing to admit that you accidently tried a Babbling Beverage or something?' Tonks arched a brow before smiling. 'You're the reason we're here. Remember?' She winked and watched as her friend bit her lip anxiously. 'Now come in, we've got just about twenty minutes.'

'Twenty minutes for what?' asked a troubled Rachel stepping inside.

'For the moonrise, what do you think?' Tonks prodded as both girls entered the flat. 'Sorry about the mess, been making some dinner so I wouldn't have the urge to bite either of you.'

'You were cooking?' Lucy frowned.

'Not exactly,' she answered as they stepped into the kitchen and showed them what she had been preparing. 'UK's best peanut butter.' She winked, taking a butty and biting on it before offering the bowl some others for her friends and each of them got hold of one.

Tonks led them to her drawing-room and placed the bowl upon the coffee table before summoning three bottles of Butterbeer.

'Wait!' Lucy asked. 'Wait a second. Before you jump onto the food, where's the camera I gifted you for Christmas? There was a reason behind it because it's been like over a year since the last picture we took together.'

'Oh, all right.' Tonks smiled, landing the bottles on the coffee table as well and waving her wand to summon her camera then. The object came floating from somewhere in her bedroom and Lucy got it her hands. Rachel moved towards Tonks for the picture and Lucy started to analyse how she would arrange the photo, she took a couple of steps to her right, taking the focus off of the girls. 'You know, I thought you wanted a picture of us,' Tonks mocked.

'Symmetry is the poorest way in which one can accomplish something,' Lucy stated.

Tonks rolled her eyes and wondered if she would ever run out of new ideas from her architectonic undertaking.

'There!' Lucy flicked her wand so the camera was floating alone and ran to Tonks's other side. After the flash went on, she got it and handed to her friend. 'Send me a copy, will you?'

'Sure,' said Tonks. 'So, I don't have a lot of time. How did Finn pop the question?'

Rachel looked from one girl to the other, swallowed her bite of the butty and sucked a breath.

'All right. So, he's been helping me work on identifying the effects of the Angel's Trumpet Draught, yeah?'

'The what?' interrupted Lucy.

'It's a draught,' answered Rachel uncharacteristically impatient, 'not important. All you need to know is that everybody thinks it's sort of a poison – no one knows the effects or rather, no one _knew_ the effects because my beloved husband-to-be figured it out,' she grinned proudly. 'Now we were working on a few potions that were running out back at the shop and he offered me a goblet saying, "Taste this, Rach," and I asked what it was, he answered by saying that it was the Angel's Trumpet, so I just looked at him wondering if he had gone mad. Of course he grinned looking at me in a way that made my cheeks go all red and said "We've been looking at it the wrong way, the name's just a disguise. Whoever came up with it was trying to hide its true effects." So I asked what it really did and he just looked a bit uneasy come to think of it, asked in that cheesy way if I trusted him, so I drank and to my surprise it was right at the bottom.'

Rachel gazed fondly at her ring whilst Tonks hugged her legs sipping on her drink and Lucy bit her lip with a trembling chin.

'Got it from my hand, casted a quick Scouring Charm on it, got down to one knee and said "It gives the drinker sweet dreams and I'm hoping I won't need it because you are all I've ever dreamt of. Will you marry me?"'

'Awww!' Lucy had hid her face in her hands.

'He's a pretty sweet lad, Rach,' commented Tonks. 'You're luc –'

She was interrupted by her watch's beep; glancing at it, she stood up and walked towards the window.

'Six and eighteen,' she announced, 'moonrise.'

Tonks glanced at the big, round, golden globe rising on the horizon amidst the buildings of London and could not help but to feel her heart tightening. Not far from her, at that precise moment, Remus was suffering with his transformation and there was nought she could do. It was most definitely not fair. She was glad, though, for once she had her friends to help her get her mind off of him.

'Convinced?' she asked turning around and putting up her best imitation of a real grin.

Rachel nodded.

'I'm sorry. This wedding's just ... ugh!' Rachel rubbed her temples, 'getting on my nerves.'

'Wouldn't be that bad, would it?' Tonks asked apprehensively. 'I mean, I wouldn't change much.'

'Dora ...' began Rachel anguished.

'You barking mad?' Lucy frowned looking at her as though she had indeed lost her mind.

'No, listen,' Tonks asked. 'Just hear me out. I'd kill you both without a second thought in the next twelve hours – I'll give you that. But I'd be myself all the – How many hours are there in a month?' She got her wand from her pocket and waved it, quickly doing the math. 'Six hundred and sixty remaining ones.'

'Dora, you wouldn't even be human!' argued Lucy.

'Well, technically not, but I'd still look like one and be and do everything we humans do ninety-nine percent of the time.'

'_Why are you defending them?_'

'Let's just be glad that Dora is not a werewolf, all right?' interfered Rachel.

'And all this because of a potion,' suggested Lucy.

'It was not just a potion!' refuted Rachel. 'There was the taste, the full moon, the bloody book!'

'Book? What _book_?' Lucy asked.

'This one.' Having got a hold of the item on the coffee table, Tonks threw it at her.

Lucy awkwardly tried to catch it, but could not and reached for it on the floor, muttering 'Sorry,' as she did. She took a glimpse at the title and they waited as she read the summary on the back. 'Why do you have this book anyway?' she questioned with a quizzical look.

'Um, I don't know ...' Tonks shrugged. 'Curiosity.'

'We should write the so called almost-human author and thank him for such great literature since it got our dear Dora to actually read,' grinned Lucy.

'Oy! I read books!' Tonks advocated. 'And I haven't even started that –'

'Pity!' exclaimed Lucy. 'We cannot. "Anonymous Author" it says.'

'Fitting, isn't it?' alleged Rachel. 'No one would have the balls to come public about it. Ghost writing was the only option.'

'Remember that case at Hogwarts?' asked Lucy.

Tonks bit her lower lip. If Rachel remembered Remus's name ...

'I know, right? If my children were there ...'

'_Children_?' Tonks grabbed fiercely at any hope from changing the conversation topic from Remus.

'Are you pregnant by any chance? Is that the reason behind the wedding?' questioned Lucy.

'No!' bellowed Rachel. 'Merlin! No.' She paused for an instant before adding, 'The thought might've crossed our minds, but that's for afterwards for sure.'

Tonks sighed in relief. Both for managing to get the Remus topic out of the room and for realising that Rachel was not pregnant nor did she want to get any time soon. None of them had any idea, but especially now with another twelve Death Eaters walking wherever they please; England was an awful place to bring up a child and would remain so for the following years.

'So,' began Lucy after silence had become a bit too long, 'if I ask for a Replenishing Blood Potion, will you think I'm a vampire?' She winked and laughed when Rachel shot a cushion her way.

'Hey!' Tonks got the bowl with the sandwiches out of the coffee table when the avenge cushion thrown by Lucy nearly knocked it down. 'You two better eat these 'cause I don't plan on dealing with leftovers on my day off.'

'Your day off's tomorrow?' questioned Rachel.

'Yeah,' answered Tonks, 'to rest from the full moon, you know.' She grinned despite being glad that none of the girls were aware that it was, in fact, true.

Rachel rolled her eyes, before saying, 'So is mine.'

'Great! I'm holding you for an all-nighter then,' stated Tonks. 'Lucy?'

'Nah!' The girl shook her head. 'Nine in the morning I've got a visit to a barmy wizard who tried to add eight rooms, each on top of the other. Need to make sure it's safe at first and then convince him to actually mould the house to look normal. Mind you everyone at the office tried to talk to him, so if I manage this, chances are my name will be in for the next promotion. We've had to contact the Obliviator Headquarters twice already. Thank Merlin he doesn't live in the heart of London.'

'Enough about work!' Tonks decided. 'I have that way too much already. What else's news with you?'

Lucy shrugged supporting her head upon her knee and rubbing a hole on the sofa with her finger.

'Nothing really good, I reckon.'

'Good thing friends are here for the bad ones too,' hinted Tonks. 'Spill it out.'

The other girl bit her butty, chewed on it for a while and sipped on the beer to swallow.

'Mum and dad are splitting up.'

'Sorry, mate,' Tonks said.

'Even after all this time?'

'Yeah, well, I sort of had it coming,' she told them. 'You know how they were always fighting ...'

'And how are you?' asked Rachel.

'I'm all right, I suppose. And relieved, to be honest.' Lucy sighed. 'At least the fights will be over, right?' She tried to smile, but it did not reach her eyes.

'Your mum, she all right?' Rachel questioned again.

'Not really,' she lamented. 'Been crying a lot, but I do think she'll be all right ... in time. If she didn't love him so bloody much, I'd have wished for this to happen yonks ago. Dad's just being the usual berk, arguing that he was the only one to ever do things right, that no one helped him and he was tired of having to do everything. Basically he's a god who does everything perfectly and everyone else around him is an idiot.' She exhaled heavily. 'You know, the usual.'

'You know I'm here if you need anything, right?' Rachel offered.

'There's not much to tell, really,' she said. 'Just wait and see how things will resolve.'

'Onto happier matters then,' proposed Tonks.

'Valentine's Day?' suggested Rachel.

'All right,' Dora agreed. 'What you two doing? Don't answer that, Rach, lemme guess. Romantic dinner with the fiancé?'

Rachel raised both her hands in surrender.

'Our first special date as an engaged couple.'

'Lucy?'

'No plans,' she shrugged, 'yet.'

'Out for a bit of luck, are you?' questioned Rachel with a smirk.

'Rachel!' Lucy yelled throwing a pillow at her. 'You?' she asked eyeing Tonks.

'I've got a date with nine gentlemen,' she grinned for an instant, sipped on her beer before frowning slightly. 'Or rather nine rebellious men.'

'_You're going to the Weird Sisters'?_' questioned Lucy in an accusatorial tone.

'Savage's taking me.' Tonks bit her lip.

'What's with Savage, heh?' asked Rachel taking a sip of her Butterbeer. 'You two finally letting everyone know?'

'There's nothing to let everyone know.'

'Are you sure?' enquired Lucy.

'Yes!' answered Tonks indignantly. 'We're partners. We spend our days together and saving each other's arses, the least we deserve is to go to a gig together, don't you think?'

Lucy and Rachel exchanged a look with doubtful smiles.

'Not even a kiss?' questioned Rach. 'In the past?'

'One kiss. On a mission,' she stated.

'Fighting dark wizards with kisses now, are we?' mocked Lucy.

'No! Disguised, you daft bugger!' refuted Tonks throwing another pillow at her. 'Besides, when you're the ex-girlfriend of the dead best mate kind of kills the mood.'

'Sorry,' asked Rachel chewing on her bottom lip.

'Yeah, I'm sorry, Dora.'

'Forget it, really,' said Tonks shaking her head lightly before aiming for her revenge. 'Rachel, do you rather share the details now or after Lucy leaves?'

'What deta –? Dora, come on!'

'What?' Tonks raised her eyebrows. 'You go out there telling people I turn into a wild wolf on full moons and I can't mortify you by asking for some details?'

'No, you can't,' denied Rachel a bit uncertain.

'Now, I'm no expert on the matter, but I don't think that's fair,' bargained Lucy.

'Ugh! You two are impossible!' she declared getting giggles from the other two.

'But don't worry! I don't want to get between you two and I rather leave your sex lives for yourselves, so I'm gonna go,' she told them. 'Haven't got a decent night of sleep in forever and I reckon I won't get that if I stay a little while longer.'

Tonks stood up and walked her to the hall along with Rachel.

'Thanks for coming.' She smiled as Lucy fastened her cloak. 'I know you have a tight schedule.'

Lucy shook her head.

'So do you,' she pointed out. 'Thanks for the butty and the Butterbeers,' she added with a nod.

'My pleasure,' stated Tonks.

'Hope to see you before the wedding, Rach!' she remarked waving and stepping outside.

'See ya!' Rachel waved back.

The following moment she had vanished into thin air with a loud pop and Tonks was grateful for having reinforced the Silencing Charms around her flat earlier that day. They went back to Tonks's living-room after the Auror magically locked the door.

'Mind if I borrow Penates?' asked Rachel. 'Gotta tell mum I'll be spending the night.'

'Course not! There's quill and parchment on the drawer,' she added pointing to the desk. She went to the window and opened it a bit, letting out a hoot-sound; soon the bird had entered, shook itself from all the water in its feathers and had nearly soaked the couch. A minute later Rachel had finished writing her mum's note, Tonks had tied it on Penates's leg and he flew out the window.

'Let's start!' grinned Tonks after they sat. 'Hot sex between the cauldrons or sweet making love in the bedroom?'

'The latter.' She bit her lip. 'Reckoned he deserved a proper thanks for all the trouble he went through to do the proposal, don't you think?'

Tonks stopped midway on taking the bottle of Butterbeer towards her lips and smirked.

'Bet he made it worth your while, didn't he?' She winked sipping on her drink.

'More than worth it,' assured Rachel with a curt nod.

This pleasant conversation went on for hours, the topics changing from all the spectrum of the normal life of young women, guys, work, robes and the maddening trouble it was to organise a wedding ('Did you know they made us choose one among twenty-three different shades of beige?'). Tonks was happy to feel ordinary for once, not worrying about Death Eaters coming rushing whilst you fight your way through the night watching thousands of thousands of prophecies as though weddings and divorces were the most important bits of one's life. And simply not having to think of Remus all night long, wondering how he was going through his night ... She would not have slept either way. She had not had a wink in the past eight full moons, why should the ninth be any different? It had been too long since she had felt this normal because being a member of the Order of the Phoenix simply did not allow one this luxury. She realised she was glad that Rachel had thought she was the werewolf in her shop back then, otherwise she would never look at Remus again – not that she had a reason to see him loads either way – nor would Tonks have a wonderful, simple night. A night with a meet and irrigated by Butterbeer that was ending with a heavy storm beginning, giggles and biscuits baked for breakfast at five in the morning when the fire in the mantelpiece before them abruptly turned green and Tonks had her wand pointed aggressively at the invader a second before she realised she knew him. She knew that mess of shabby robes and greying brown hair that suddenly fell in front of her.

'Remus,' she cried kneeling before him.

'Look,' he muttered under his laboured breath, 's'really you.'

When Tonks touched his face, hoping to see any sign that Remus was at least some kind of well, she noticed how not only his robes were covered in blood, but her hands too. She watched as his eyes focused on her. He must have had used all his strength to travel via Floo Powder to her flat. Only then she realised that her friend was completely paralysed watching the scene unravel before her.

'Rachel,' Tonks looked deeply into her eyes and commanded, 'go.' After she turned her gaze back to the man on the carpet and asked softly, 'Remus, what happened?'

'I ... I ...' he mumbled. 'It was ... w-wrong.'

'What was wrong?'

His eyes unfocused and focused on her. He was trying really hard but the ever enlarging crimson spots upon his robes were making it too much, too much to handle.

'Remus, if I am to help you, you gotta tell me what's wrong.'

He needed to tell her. He had to. Explain to her. He was wrong. He shouldn't have ... but she was fuzzy, so fuzzy. Her bubble-gum pink hair was mixing with her pale, soft skin. So soft. It was a pity that they were deprived of the skin on skin contact due to that thin layer of blood that her finger spread as she caressed him. It was darkening, oddly darkening until he could no longer see.

'Remus!' she called, shaking him. 'Fuck.'

With a wave of her wand she had him floating and had stood up. She had only taken a step towards her bedroom when she noticed Rachel still had not moved an inch. If Remus had said anything about the Order ...

'I told you to go!'

'Dora, h-he's ...'

'Rach, this is none of your business,' she stated. 'Go. Home.'

Tonks had already re-started her way to her bedroom when she became aware of her friend's footsteps behind her. She ignored Rachel until Remus was comfortably lying upon her sheets.

'Rachel, please.'

'Dora, listen,' she began tentatively. 'It's – _was_ a full moon night.'

'Yes, you just wouldn't let me forget, would you?'

If Remus could not tell her exactly what had happened to him, she would have to find out for herself. His shredded robe was a strong indication that it had been destroyed by claws and as she began to take them away from him, Tonks started to notice bruises all over his body. Could those have been caused by just his werewolf form?

'And that looks way too much like an animal attack,' Rachel pointed out.

Tonks could not help but to remember the first time she had seen a nasty scar on his forearm, the one she was uncovering at that moment. Animal attack had been the exact excuse Remus had given her when he was uneasy about sharing his condition with her.

'... It does.'

'Dora, i-if he-he was ...' stuttered Rachel. 'If it was not animal that attacked him, but a werewolf – if he was bitten then ...'

'That didn't happen,' stated Tonks, but was soon reminded that she did not know that for sure.

She finished taking the robe from his torso, which had been poorly covered before and took a deep breath to keep her cool. A large bruise stained most of his right side and touching it, she noticed Remus stir. He certainly had two or three broken ribs. What had happened?

'You need to take him to St. Mungo's,' said Rachel.

'I've got enough medical training for bruises and cuts.'

Even though bruises and cuts were something Remus was used to. She doubted they would have made him faint the way he did.

'Dora, if you care about him –'

'_I care about him!_'

'Then listen to me and save him! Because it feels like you don't even care if he turns into a bloody –'

'**He already **_**is**_** a bloody werewolf!**'

The room seemed to suddenly be as cold as ice.

Was she shouting? Well, she _was_ panting. Rachel was scared. No, not exactly, she was terrified. She was looking at her as though she was mad for just saying something of that nature, as though she did not recognise her. She could not believe it ... Had she just lost a friend?

What had she done?

It was not her secret to tell. She just had to screw it all up, hadn't she? She just had to yell the first thing that crossed her mind without thinking. Blimey! It would never have got to this point if Rachel had listened to her first advice. She knew all too well how she got when she was angry. _Was the hair orange?_ Rachel had asked for it. They had known each other for over a decade if she did not have a clue that – Merlin, what was she thinking? She needed to focus on the moment. Remus needed her.

'Go home,' she repeated.

Apparently Rachel did not need to listen to it a third time and Disapparated right there, not even bothering with getting her cloak before heading out. Better this way. She did not want a friend if she would be so attached to old prejudices that could not even see the man desperately needing all sorts of help in front of her.

On trying to take off what was left of his robe, she saw that there was in fact nothing else covering his naked body. _Oh, Merlin!_ Before she could get a glimpse of what was below the line of hair on his lower abdomen, she heaped the robe around his groin to grant the unconscious man some dignity and help her focus on what she had to do. Shaking her head, she closed her eyes shut and pointed her wand to the bedroom door.

'_Accio_!'

The bottom drawer of her restroom cupboard came flying towards her, it was where she kept the healing things; she waved to land it on the bed next to him and began murmuring incantations upon his broken ribs. Tonks had just finished mending the first one when a loud pop echoed in the bedroom; half a second later she was aiming at Rachel's heart.

'I came to help,' she explained holding out lots of flasks in a box for her friend to see.

'You didn't have to.'

'Here,' she offered her a bottle, 'Wound-cleaning potion, powerful antiseptic. Apply it before anything.'

Tonks got the bottle and looked at the label on it before gazing back at her friend.

'Thanks.'

'Don't mention it.' Rachel shook her head lightly before adjusting the box in her arm and using her free hand to go through the other flasks. 'I'm no Healer, but you can do a lot with potions if you know your way around. I've also got Murtlap essence, Invigorating Draught for later, a bit of Salamander's blood, Dittany, Blood Replenishing –'

She was interrupted when a loud thunder rumbled and she nearly let the box fall, but quickly restored its balance.

'Not sure if he really needs, but reckon it can't hurt,' Rachel finished.

Tonks nodded and started spreading the antiseptic upon Remus's scratches; under Rachel's orientation, even his palm had a few cuts, she let it there for a few minutes as she mended the other two ribs. Whilst her friend applied Dittany on the scrapes, she realised that his left arm not only had a big bruise, but also seemed somewhat wrong under her touch. Her fingers searched for the bone, trying to figure out the exact position it was and though the position was right, she noticed that he had an incomplete fracture there. And as she fixed him, she could not help but wonder what he had put himself through.

About an hour of murmured enchantments and potions applied on Remus, they had finished.

'I'm sorry, I can't stay,' Rachel apologised. 'Mum's probably going crazy by now.'

'You've done enough,' said Tonks. 'Feel free to put the blame on me when you explain yourself to her,' she grinned. 'Thanks again.'

'It's all right,' she assured her. 'I'll leave these two so you can give to him.' Rachel put the Replenishing Blood potion and the Invigorating Draught upon her bedside table. 'No need to return them.'

'Rachel, if you don't mind,' Tonks began, 'don't mention this ... to _anyone_.'

'I know how to keep a secret, remember?' Rachel smiled, gathering the rest of her things. 'Thanks for the night and I'm sorry I mistrusted you, I shouldn't –'

'Hey, I'd say you pretty much made up for it.' Tonks winked. 'Cheers!'

'Toodle-oo!'

Tonks covered him with a duvet and summoned his robe, leaving it on the corner and allowing him to be more comfortable as she waited for Rachel to fasten her cloak and Disapparate. She conjured a chair and sat before the bed watching him under just a couple of candles' light whilst the storm ranged outside.

'What happened to you, Remus?' she whispered.

It seemed that the one night she allowed herself to not worry about his transformation, something awful happened to him. At that moment she knew she would take all the worry if it meant that Remus would be all right the next morning, at least as all right as he could be. She was not aware of any mission Dumbledore had assigned him, but what if it had been something the headmaster did not want to let the whole Order know. Would he even do that? What if he had resumed their previous mission of locating werewolves without her? Would not be a complete surprise since she had ruined everything.

A sigh escaped her lips and she found herself pushing his fringes out of his eyes. Her hand landed on his forehead and she noticed something was not right. He was hot. No, that didn't sound right. Not that he wasn't hot, because she had just seen him practically naked and it wasn't even the first time; she remembered all too well when he Splinched and she had to heal him, just the other kind of hot. Well, he was hot and hot. Hot hot and sexy hot. All right, that was wrong. This was Remus for Merlin's sake! Most likely with a fever and she was thinking of his thin, delineated chest. He was sort of coltish, willowy, certainly well-built, pretty much like Seekers had to be, although he was a bit taller than most Seekers. Should she take the duvet away? But that would mean ... having to sort of do a juggling act not to see ... _him_ whilst putting on the shredded robe to cover. Maybe it was something that came with his transformations. It was brass monkeys out there, the best option was probably to not uncover him.

Her hand found his just outside the covers and as though they had a life of their own, her fingers began to play with his, lightly caressing them and soon, her hand was beneath his and she wished he held her. Her eyes were glancing at their hands hoping his fingers would fasten around hers.

Nearly twenty-four hours after she had slept, her body was aching for some rest. Now that Remus was well, she felt her eyes burning, demanding to close and sleep. However, there was something she needed to do before she could allow herself to drift to the land of dreams. She got the red potion Rachel had left with her and took out the stopper, putting the bottle upon his lips, she let the liquid fall in his mouth and closed it. She moved closer to his ears and murmured, 'Shh! It's all right. Just a Blood Replenishing potion, you can swallow it.' But he made no movement to do so and she was forced to close his nose as well. Martyrizing herself she counted, one, two three seconds and he finally his need to breathe obligated him to swallow. Tonks smiled and kissed his cheek. 'Good night! Sleep tight!' She transfigured her chair into a comfortable two seat sofa and laid prune upon it, letting her feet hang at the end and summoning another duvet to cover herself. Biting her lip, she inched her hand apprehensively towards his on the bed and held his little finger with hers from underneath, just wanting to make sure she would be aware whenever he woke up, or that was what she told herself.

It took long for him to recover from the night before, several hours had passed between the moment he fell unconscious on Tonks's living-room from when the beep of a watch marking three in the afternoon brought him back. He did not open his eyes immediately, but tried to put everything together. That bed was certainly more comfortable than the one in the Grimmauld Place reserved for him and also the one in his old cottage. His fingertips moved upon the bed and duvet. The covers upon him were much softer than what he had in either of them. He put a forearm on his closed eyes and regretted it right away; it hurt a lot. The light hit his eyes from the behind his head instead of the left side, like it was in both places. Despite not knowing exactly where he was, there was something familiar about that place. Was it the smell? But the full moon had been the night before, his senses were not heightened and he could not figure out exactly where it belonged to.

_Blimey, the full moon!_

Gingerly, he brought down the arm that had been on his eyes and opened them. He saw a white ceiling and a white wall beside him, not a clue to where he was. He turned his head to the other side.

'Wotcher,' said a young woman with a sleepy voice lying on a loveseat with cherry coloured hair. She quickly retrieved a hand that had been lying on his bed and propped herself on an elbow whilst clearing her throat. 'How are you feeling?'

'I ...' His gaze darted around the room. Where was he?

Bits of memory were returning to him. Drinking tea with Sirius. Beginning to change in the kitchen. The Floo Network. The piano ...

'The arm hurts?' she asked tilting her head to his left arm.

Remus nodded and before he could move his right hand to massage it, her fingers were carefully touching him.

'Reckon's not broken anymore.' She smiled wide. 'Anything else? Your ribs?' She moved an inch towards his torso, but apparently thought better of it and ran her fingers through her hair instead.

As if to test, he took a deep breath and let out a low moan.

'Just a bit.'

'Good then,' she grinned.

The transformation back. The pain of putting on the robe. The Floo Network. Tonks's living-room ...

'What happened, Remus?' Tonks questioned in a small voice.

He looked back at her and saw true concern in her eyes. Why did he have to bother her? Which bit of his pained mind thought of coming to Tonks's instead of the Grimmauld Place as a good idea? He had been worse than most times and right then he felt almost as though it had been a normal full moon with Wolfsbane. She had healed him and given him a bed to crash on. And he owned her an explanation.

'I-I was at the Headquarters,' he began, 'was waiting for Severus to bring my last dose of Wolfsbane, but he never came. I lost track of time and the transformation began right there in the kitchen as I was talking to Sirius. He shoved me into the fireplace and sent me to my house,' he realised. Thank Merlin for Sirius's quick thinking. 'Spent the night there, woke up and – I'm not sure. The first thing I must've thought was to come here.'

'I'm glad you did,' she said honestly. If he had returned to the Grimmauld Place, it would have taken even longer for someone to come and heal him, so Remus might have ended up with serious collateral damage and Sirius might need to expose himself in order to search for help for him. 'So these,' she eyed his wounds, 'were just from your transformation?'

Tonks had seen him just after he had transformed back and that was certainly not how he looked like then.

'No. Not exactly.' He locked his gaze with the wall behind her. 'I cast an Unbreakable Charm upon all my furniture, you see. In case I escape the basement. Because there's a limit of times you can magically repair something before it falls apart, but I heal.'

'Err, to a point, Remus,' Tonks could not stop herself. 'Ever heard of death?'

She immediately regretted her words. The way his eyes lowered to his hands as if a knife had cut through his heart made her want to get her wand and knock herself out. Why did she always have to play for a bit of a laugh? It might be a blessing when the mood of a room was down, but it certainly was not what he needed then for if someone knew death closely, that someone was Remus Lupin.

'Sorry, I'm sorry.' Tonks grabbed his hand as if to bring his attention to her. 'I'm so stupid, that was a stupid thing to say. I'm so sorry.'

'You're not stupid,' was all he could force himself to say.

'It's just that,' Tonks started, 'I can buy you a new sofa, a new wardrobe, a new bed, a new coffee table, a new piano even – or old ones if you rather,' she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, 'but I can't buy a new Remus.'

_I can't buy a new Remus. That did seem to convey the depth of it, didn't it?_, she mentally cursed herself.

At that moment, he just hoped she had not seen the hatred in his eyes for being the reason sadness had come to hers. He tried to smile, hiding in his shell as he always did.

'That would be quite practical, wouldn't it?'

Then he saw his failure at smiling pasted upon her face.

'Yeah ...'

_Women ..._ As much as her personality resembled Sirius's he could not help but to notice that there were the slightest nuances, the little bits of her soul she put out for him that drew him even closer to her.

'Say, what's your favourite flower?' Remus questioned, this time his smile was sincere.

Taken aback for a moment, she cleared her throat before answering, 'Tulips.'

'Tulips?' he mused. 'That's not the answer one's used to hear.'

Tonks shrugged.

'Find them quite fascinating,' she commented. 'If you look from the outside you'll just see the sort of oval-shaped and graceless flower, but if you come close, there's the inside, the smell, you'll really know how it is. Once I saw a nest of bees inside one, and I'm glad I did, otherwise I'd still think it was just another tulip instead of the home of thousand future little bees,' she grinned. 'Know what I mean? Besides, they come in all sorts of colours.' Tonks raised her eyebrows, indicating her hair.

Remus chuckled just when her stomach reminded her that had been too long since she had had Rachel's biscuits.

'Are you hungry?' she asked with a frown. 'I'm gonna get us something to eat.'

She stood up and nearly lost her balance on the thin gap between the sofa and the bed. Remus sat to try and help her, but he was not needed and the shot of pain in his abdomen and forearm was in vain. When he was about to slid his legs out of the bed, he noticed that there was something ... missing.

'Ahn, Tonks?' he called, pulling the duvet close to his chest.

Having observed his act, she remembered the awkward moment from the night before.

'Oh, right, yeah ...' Tonks glanced at the corner where his robe was. 'It was a bit torn already.' For a short instant she pondered if it would resist yet another repairing, but soon gave up on it. 'Here,' she said walking to her wardrobe. 'I think I have something ...' Her hands went through all the bigger robes she kept for whenever she needed to morph herself to a bigger body for a mission. 'Think this will do ...' With a wave of her wand, the black robe had become even bigger and she threw it at him. 'Try enlarging it a bit more if it doesn't fit.'

Remus was instantly reminded of when he, twenty-four hours earlier, tried to reach for his wand on the bedside table but desisted.

'I don't have my wand,' he let her know. It if were possible, he felt even more naked.

Tonks gazed at him as though she had not heard it right, but even as his eyes confirmed what he had said, she questioned incredulously, '_You don't have your wand?_'

'It might ... break during the transformation, you see ...'

'Oh ...' That might have been the only plausible answer she would accept for a soldier to not have his weapon on a war. She swirled her own wand in her fingers and smiled. 'I can fetch it for you.'

He did not wish for her to go through the trouble, but his wounds made it hard for him to think of a better option.

'Thank you,' he said with a curt nod. 'It's on my bedside table, back at the Grimmauld.'

'All right,' she grinned. 'Back in a bit.'

Tonks Apparated at the doorstep of the Order's headquarters and knocked. A few seconds later, Hestia Jones opened the door for her.

'Oh, good, you're here.' Hestia was unrolling a parchment in her hand and apparently no one was bothering with shutting up Sirius's mother. 'We haven't found him yet,' she informed her and before Tonks could ask her who was she talking about, Hestia closed the door and shouted, '**Kingsley says no attacks were reported!**'

Tonks walked in. Molly was scribbling a note on the desk of the drawing-room, Dedalus had his head in the fireplace, Eliphias was searching for Merlin-knew-what on the Daily Prophet. She heard Mad-Eye's metallic leg before her eyes caught a glimpse of him, turning around and saw him talk to Sirius.

'You said it loud and clear, are you sure?'

'Yes, I'm sure,' retorted Sirius. 'I'm not the mad one!' And he had stormed up the stairs.

Tonks planted herself before her old mentor and frowned.

'What the bloody hell is going on? What happened?' she enquired for apparently something urgent was happening with the Order and no one bothered to even let her know.

'We can't find Remus,' he growled. 'Your berk of a cousin sent him to his home whilst he was transforming, but the place seems intact and no one's seen him ever since.'

'Oh ...' She felt the tickling sensation that indicated her hair had changed on its own as well as the heat coming up to her cheeks. 'I might've – He's at my place.'

The sight of his electric blue eye coming from the back of his head and turning madly to look at her would never to stop to be disgusting.

'**What didja say?**'

And all the heads were instantly turned to them. Even Dedalus left the mantel.

'He showed up all hurt in my fireplace this morning, passed out in my living-room so I patched him and let him rest.'

'Didn't occur to you to owl Sirius and let the Order know he was fine?' he asked. 'Easy there, everyone, we've just found him.'

Merlin! But she hated the disdain in his voice.

'Mr I-never-forgot-a-report, I had had a bit to drink and hadn't slept all night, so I'm sorry that I was tired and I was glad he was better and didn't think of reporting it on my day off.'

'Don't happen to know where he spent the night, do you?' asked Hestia.

Tonks nodded.

'Home,' she confirmed. 'He just woke up, told me he had set an Unbreakable Charm on everything for occasions like this. That's why he was so hurt.'

'Breaking himself instead was not wise,' remarked Hestia.

'Can't blame him for wanting to save what he has,' Tonks underlined. 'He doesn't have a lot of gold.'

'Still ...'

She understood Hestia's point of view, having been on the same side of the argument earlier herself, though she could not help but to defend Remus.

'I'll bring him in later.'

Tonks went to his room and spotted the wand exactly where he had said it would be. She got a hold of it and Disapparated right away.

'Merlin! The Order was going crazy after you,' she informed him, letting his wand fall on the bed beside him.

'Are they?' Remus frowned.

'Yeah, Mad-Eye was bollocking me 'cause I didn't report you were here.'

'I'm sorry.'

Tonks chuckled.

'That was the first time someone else apologised for something I did wrong.' She offered him a half-smile. 'Be right back with the food.'

Remus gripped the wand and looked at it closely. He did not apologise for what she did wrong, but for the fact that her mistake would never have happened if he had not been so careless. It seemed that in the hours he had been in her flat, he had only brought trouble towards her.

'There you go!' said Tonks with a wide smile on her face and handing him a plate full of pasta. 'Not fresh, but I'm starving and I'm thinking you are too.' She winked.

He took a bite and offered her a smile that clearly told her that she had been right. A couple of hours, an Invigorating Potion and a shower later they had both arrived at the Order's Headquarters to Molly's delight. Tonks let her have the job of fussing over him as though he was her son despite not being that much older than him and took the opportunity to leave before she became Molly's target. He would be very well in the Weasley's hands.

Three days after the full moon, Remus finally felt strong enough to Apparate and went to his cottage under the pretext of checking the damage to the furniture. However, there was no damage at all. The worst that had happened to his movables were being thrown against the wall, though none of them had even been turned upside down. He went to the bedroom and waved at the entrance of his concealed attic before entering it. He reached for one of his most treasured possessions, a wooden box and opened it. His old journal was on the top of the parcel and he wondered, if it were not too dangerous for a member of the Order to keep note of the organisation's every move, which would be the best title for that day's entry, _People are tulips_ or _'I can't buy a new Remus.'_ He got the parcel in his hands, not stopping the smile at the sight of the letters. Letters that were never given to their addressee, letters he had written over the past eighteen years to his mother telling her how sorry he was, letters to his father saying he wished he could be a son of whom he could be proud of, letters to James and Lily saying how much he missed them, letters to Sirius wishing he did not have to run and actually be free written from the moment he found out Padfoot was not guilty and the remains of Peter's burnt letters. Remus put his hand in his pocket and got the scroll of parchment. A new receiver was about to join them. He rubbed his thumb where the quill had scratched the parchment when he wrote those four letters, Dora. He put it in the corner with the others, the pink ribbon contrasting against all the beige as he wondered for how long the enchantment would last. He shut the box closed before he changed his mind, but something stopped him from locking it. He had the wand in his hand and the spell in his mouth, but for Merlin, he could not say it.

'Sod it!'

He got the scroll and locked the box, leaving the attic and seeing Penates just outside his bedroom's window. She had a really smart bird. He tied it on its paw and watched as he flew one of the several miles that separated him and Tonks.

_She deserved_, Remus thought, _and really is a wonderful girl_.

A similar thought would cross Dora's mind when later that day she untied the ribbon from the parchment and saw it transfigure to a bouquet of pink tulips before her eyes. When was the last time a bloke had sent her flowers? No, her father most definitely did not count. But did a friend count as well? Right then, as she shut her eyes closed and took in the sweet scent of her first bouquet, she was sure that every woman deserved to receive flowers at least once in her life. A dither was upon her hand as she reached to the small card with her nickname on it.

_I never had a chance to thank you for what you did to me and here is hoping the flowers do.  
>You are a wonderful girl and I trust you know you have my eternal gratitude.<em>

_Remus_


	35. 34 The Weird Sisters Concert

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! I'm about to board a plane to the USA and I'm really glad I was able to finish this before I left, since I don't think I'll have internet there. Anyway, I do hope you like this chapter, I've been wanting to write it for ages! xD Writing songs for The Weird Sisters was so much better than I thought it would be and the lyrics for This Is The Night are not mine. And as usual, thank you so much for all your reviews they were amazing! They do mean much more than you think. ^^

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 34: The Weird Sisters Concert<strong>

Severus could talk endlessly and for a very, _very_ long time. Remus had just realised. And it was getting harder and harder to wear a straight face when there was a Metamorphmagus beside him. Tonks could make his concentration wander at an alarming rate. Especially then, when she seemed to have chosen Snape's report to practise her abilities. She had arrived with an electric blue hair that reminded Moody's eye and it had gone through all the shades of blue; when she had the darkest one, it changed to a deep purple, which became lighter until the lilac turned into pink and then through all the shades of pink to the point of her favourite bubble-gum pink. The same shade of pink of the ribbon keeping her short ponytail in place, a ribbon Remus recognised, but made no comment on it. Tonks then moved to her eyes, morphing each one to a colour different of the other. Her concentration seemed heightened, as though she had mastered that technique not long ago.

At long last, with Voldemort's requests last Monday, the Potions Master finished his say and took his seat so Tonks was stuck with a turquoise right eye and a sand-coloured brown left one.

'Thank you, Severus,' said Dumbledore, rising from his chair, 'I shall ponder over it and bring you my resolution next week. Now I'm afraid I have a rather sad final note. The day after tomorrow, Valentine's day, will be a Hogsmeade weekend, therefore I am sorry if any the professors had romantic plans, but we must watch over Harry,' he added with twinkling eyes.

Tonks shut her eyes close for the idea of any of her professors being romantic involved with someone was cringe worthy. She was glad however, that she did not have to keep an eye on Harry and thus could enjoy her night listening to the best composers of songs to ever walk this Earth.

As the headmaster ended the meeting, Remus felt relieved that he would no longer need to hide the smile from his face whenever Dora put up that strained expression and morphed something on her face. Molly walked to the cooker and started preparing dinner. Sirius was pouring shots of Firewhisky to whoever wanted to forget Severus's report and Mundungus was the first to raise his hand asking for a double dose. Two chairs away from him, Bill had leant towards Tonks and was asking her to change her nose to his personal favourites. Remus stood up and went to the pantry, choosing a nice Merlot for himself from the Grimmauld's cellar. He was glad that Sirius had not resumed his previous onslaught on Severus after he forgot to bring his Wolfsbane. The discussion from the week before was still crystal clear in his mind and had been enough for him.

'_Are you sure you're still a member of the Order?' Sirius fired. 'Failing to do what is needed of you ... You should know Remus could've killed someone! Because of you!'_

'_If Lupin does not take precautions during his transformation, it ought not to be put on my account Black,' he replied. 'I'm merely doing him a favour since Dumbledore asked me. If he had not, believe me, I wouldn't spare a wave of my wand to do so.'_

'_He was counting on you and you failed him!' howled Sirius. 'But you wouldn't know how it is to fail someone, right? Never had a real friend, did you?'_

Coming back to the kitchen, Remus chose a seat opposite to Tonks's, so he would have an excuse to watch her. He loved how she laughed. The way she would throw her head backwards, laughing with arms and legs as though there was nothing bothering her at that moment, as though there was nothing wrong in the world, as though they were not the soldiers in the frontline of a war. Remus wished that, even for the shortest of moments, he could erase all his troubles and worry about utterly nothing like she could.

When Molly demanded some help with the cooking, Tonks was spared the task despite being eager to help. Thus, she was left by the table with the lazy Sirius and Dung at one end and Remus in front of her, after Molly insisted he was still tired from the full moon and should rest. She got the camera from her inside pocket. Lucy had been right, not only she did not have pictures with her friends, but it was almost as though she was not registering her own life. Having moved out from her parents did have some outcomes she would not have foretold. Putting her eye in the camera, she saw Remus gazing at his glass of wine deeply in thought. Tonks clicked the camera and he soon glanced at her, blinking in surprise, she grinned.

'Too serious,' she decided. 'Smile, come on.' The corner of his lips rose somewhat and she exhaled heavily. 'Remus, smile is that thing you do when you curl your lips and look really happy.'

But as he simply seemed amused at her comment; she stood up, stopped Bill who was passing behind her with a bowl of puree and placed the camera on his free hand.

'Would you mind?' she asked, but did not wait for his answer and went to sit beside Remus.

Though her foot got hooked around one of the chair's leg and she would have fell on top of him if he had not got a hold of her hips and stopped her in place.

'Not even a small smile for a dead clumsy girl?' Tonks grinned.

Remus let go of her hips and she took her seat, he sipped on his wine just before she leant closer, pleading her answer.

'A smile for the one who we trust the safety of our community, but can barely walk a few steps without tripping on her own two feet?' He gazed at her quite innocently. 'Sure.'

Right then he offered her a lopsided smile followed by an impatient puff from her and Bill had the sensibility of hitting the button just when she smiled back at him.

'Thanks,' she said taking the camera from Bill and handing it to Remus. 'Your turn.' And opened a grin, leaning closer to him and Bill beamed with his cheek nearly touching hers.

Tonks then ran as fast as the crowded kitchen allowed to the other end of the table where Moody had been discussing something with Emmeline. She hugged her old mentor from behind his neck.

'Would you smile just once?'

'I'll smile when you quit attacking me from behind.'

'Oh well,' Tonks sighed, turning to glance at him, 'would you just look at the camera then?'

Reluctantly, Mad-Eye turned his dark and beady eye to where Remus was standing, but not a second longer after the photo was taken. After that Remus took another picture of Tonks, this time with her cousin and during dinner, the Auror levitated the camera to register Molly's famous dinners for the Order. She tried to record all the little things that happened then, Mad-Eye's electric blue eye glancing at Sirius and Emmeline, Dung asleep on the table, Hestia giggling at Dedalus's joke before resuming her entertainment of morphing her face at requests to bring grins on people's face. Remus could not help but to grip the forgotten camera on the table and register the amusing Metamorphmagus diverting the whole table. She deserved to at least have some kind of reminder that she too was one of the Order's most valuable members.

An hour later and yawning they were finally saying their goodbyes, Molly was asking Bill for the millionth time when she could cut his hair a few inches, Sirius had crashed upon the couch and Remus was closing the door behind the last member, a half asleep Mundungus, waving his wand to magically close all the locks. He wondered what had got into him for getting a hold of someone's camera and taking a photo without their knowledge was not something that ought to be done, but then again Tonks was not a regular girl, that much he was sure of.

* * *

><p>The following two days seemed to drag themselves throughout eternity. It was the kind of day that when looking at a watch, the seconds seem to take a whole minute to pass. The sun outside the underground window of the Auror Office would not come down, no matter how much she wished for it to happen and when they left the Ministry, a storm capable of killing the best of moods would be falling just to complete her misery.<p>

Finally, _finally_ the night of the fourteenth of February arrived and Tonks felt she could be bouncing back and forth with excitement. She had separated her The Weird Sisters' T-shirt and the dragon hide jacket she would wear to the gig. She was already waiting outside her flat when Savage Apparated with his broom in tow.

'Wotcher!'

'I'm not invited in?' he grinned tilting his head towards the door.

'No,' she answered at once and reaching for her broomstick. 'Been looking for a chance to try this since I won it.'

Her fingers rubbed the wood and it was almost as though she felt the broom trembling, begging to be flown.

'A Nimbus 2005?' Savage asked incredulously. 'Who gave you this?'

'Um, my parents,' she lied.

'And the cookware?' he enquired with a smirk.

Tonks shrugged.

'Dad took pity of me, I suppose,' she explained before turning to look him in the eye. 'Did you bring the tickets?'

Savaged reached for his pocket and showed her the exact two pieces of paper he had shown her a few weeks before. The sight of them still made her heart speed up.

'After you,' he grinned showing her the way with his hand.

They transfigured their brooms to be smaller to the point they could fit in their pockets so they would not have any trouble with the Muggles that lived in her building. The Aurors went downstairs, wished the concierge a good night before stepping outside. They found an empty alley nearby and transfigured their broomsticks back to their original size before jumping on them and heading to the cloudy sky.

The pleasure of riding a new broom, it had been years, far too long. The stability, the fast turns, the perfect control the rider had, she had forgotten, but did not need much to be remembered of it. Her fingers gripped around the wood perfectly, she could not think of an inch that seemed out of place. The speed, the wind, however cold, put a grin upon her lips. She felt blissful.

Though, the cold wind was soon making her face go numb and she thanked Merlin when it warmed up a bit as they were passing above Reading. In due course they got to the Bodmin Moor Millenium Stadium, had entered and even had time for a handshake with Savage's friends and a couple of photos before all the lights went out for the big entrance. High pitched screams filled the air and wide grins could be seen on nearly all the faces. Slowly the music began on the background before the band's members could be seen by the audience. Tonks screamed loudly as she recognised the song.

'_When all is dark and there's no light  
><em>_Lost in the deepest star of night  
><em>_I see you'_

Both of them sang along to every line as the show of lights joined the young men on the stage, dancing to its rhythm. Tonks knew that if the world were to end right then, she could not have chosen a better place to be than at The Weird Sisters gig whilst the band played her favourite song. Throughout the middle of it, she could not help but to think of a certain friend of hers.

'_The moon shows down its light  
><em>_Cuts me to the quick tonight  
><em>_The change's in the air  
><em>_And nothing will ever be the same  
><em>_You still look good to me  
><em>_Oh, but you are no good for me  
><em>_I close my eyes and I squeeze you from my consciousness'_

The two strophes were completely identifiable for her and Tonks pushed that lycanthrope away from her mind, jumping with excitement and yelling each word of the final verses. When the last note was played, the lights illuminated the stage completely, showing their artfully torn black robes and huge hairs. Myron Wagtail stepped forward with his magically enhanced voice.

'**Good night, Cornwall!**'

The audience screamed unintelligible greetings in return.

'It's incredible to be here again with you lot and see you just as excited about this gig as we are,' he grinned as the public screamed one more time. 'This latest album has been a success. Amazing circulation ...'

'What My here is trying to say is,' interpolated Heathcote, 'thank you. Thanks a lot for been here!'

'This is the night?' Kirley asked repeating the song's last verse.

'**This is the night!**' the audience replied in unison, followed by an enthusiastic round of applause.

The band added to the loud noise, their instruments and the second song began.

'_Standing there all beautiful  
><em>_I get a glimpse of you  
><em>_All it takes is a smile  
><em>_You're wandless and I'm enchanted'_

Despite having been thrown away from her mind, Remus Lupin returned as the first verses of Enchanted started. She could not help but to find it somewhat odd, the last place she would expect for her mind to dart to him was at a The Weird Sisters concert. Still, she supposed it was due to the moon being mentioned on the previous song. Regardless of that fact, she continued to dance and sing along with Savage beside her.

Notwithstanding, her thoughts of him only grew stronger as the third song's chorus echoed in the stadium.

'_If I love you  
><em>_And you love me  
><em>_Why can't you see?  
><em>_We're meant to be!  
><em>_**Why can't you see?**__'_

Her heart was nearly popping out of her chest and she realised that perhaps it was not all because of the gig's excitement or the way she had been madly dancing and jumping to the songs. It did not make any sense. No sense at all. Blinding Spell was the type of song that send every girl's mind straight to their lo – But no. How could it be? Sure, she had thought he was sort of hot on that day, but thinking someone is hot and actually liking him that way, were two completely different things. Savage, for example, was certainly hot and she was most definitely not in love with him. Of course Remus Lupin was nothing like Lucas Savage. OK, maybe nothing was a bit too much, they were brave and smart and she had trust both of them with her life and they did not let her down. But then again, Remus was kind and attentive, courteous, gallant, thoughtful, gracious … Being with him usually sent her heart to an abnormally fast speed, much like it was beating then and the thought of kissing him was –

Bloody. Hell.

Only then she noticed the way Savage had been staring at her, as though if he did not know already the answer she would give, he would have asked how she was. She had been glancing at a lost place beside the stage and probably had not moved a muscle for quite a while.

'I'm gonna grab a drink, you want some?' she said, trying to sound nonchalant.

'I'll come with you,' he let her know, already heading towards the bar. There, they fought their way to the counter and Savage placed a Galleon in front of the seller. 'Two Butterbeers, please.'

The young woman slammed them before him and gave him his change.

Tonks took off the stopper and let the beer warm her in the slight cold weather. She liked him. Yes, she did. How come she had not seen it before? He was a perfect gentleman. Could be secretive, but it was understandable due to what he had been put through. She wanted to know all his secrets, know all of him. She wanted to be the one he would trust with every thought that ever crossed his mind. Her thumb was rubbing the bottle fondly and she bit her lip stop it from curling into a wide grin. The image of him being kind and opening up to her, letting her inside his soul, corresponding to her feelings, his heart beating faster at the sight of her …

'Come on,' she grinned, tilting her head to the stage.

They headed back, searching for a couple of minutes for a place where they could see the hairy band members clearly. She re-started singing and Savage mimicked her as they danced. Every love line sent her mind straight to that werewolf, but she did not mind. It was a Saturday night, she was young and was out enjoying her favourite band and a drink with her friend; she had someone that sent her heart bumping madly inside her chest. It was certainly much more than she had expected when she saw those tickets on her partner's hands, but right then she could not think of a better night during her twenty-two years and eight months. She felt alive.

'_Stop denying this affection  
><em>_Don't give me a pathetic explanation  
><em>_It's not helping with my lack of patience  
><em>_Feels like's just an aggravation'_

Songs followed songs throughout the night and more and more she was glad that Remus was such a nice guy. He would never hurt her the way some of the songs described. She knew that it was exactly what most people said about their significant others, but he was different. She could not explain exactly as to why, but the world seemed to spin differently whenever she was around him. He was a gentleman, if he felt the same way towards her, he simply could not hurt her.

If he felt the same way …

He always sought her out when he needed a hand and, in hindsight, it seemed to be in a 'more than friends' way.

After what seemed like a dozen relatable songs, Tonks realised Savage had joined the team of wizards that refused to let the Valentine's Day pass without a proper date and was snogging a young witch senseless. Amused, she shook her head lightly and went to grab another beer. The bar was considerably emptier and she paid the four Sickles for it. She watched the concert from afar for a couple of minutes until the woman by the counter approached her again.

'You should be honest with him, you know.'

Frowning, Tonks looked behind herself to make sure she had been the one the woman had been talking about.

'Sorry?'

'It never ends well,' she gestured with her head towards the crowd, 'being with a bloke and thinking of another.'

'Oh, no!' Tonks chuckled. 'No, we're not – We came here together, but we're not together, not together-together. Know what I mean? We're just mates.'

'On Valentine's day?' she asked furrowing her brows.

'All for The Weird Sisters,' Tonks grinned.

The seller shrugged.

'I suppose …'

Tonks went back to the crowd and focusing her attention on enjoying the final songs with Remus all over her mind.

'Did you like the latest album?' questioned Kirley at nearly one in the morning after the last bagpipe's note died.

She clapped enthusiastically with the audience, her throat hurting as she whistled after having screamed quite a bit of the night.

'Who bought the latest album?' Myron asked.

Another round of applause and screams was heard.

'Thank you, thank you!' Myron added after the sound had died somewhat. 'This next song, last song, is dedicated to all couples out here. We hope we've given you a night to remember.'

'_Don't let this magic die  
><em>_The answer is there  
><em>_Oh, just look in her eyes'_

A smile came to her lips at that moment as she was reminded of when Remus had begun to play the same song on his brand new piano. He could have chosen a better song; The Weird Sisters had thousands of songs better than Magic Works. Well, she would have to make him learn a faster one, any other song would be better. But not even Remus Lupin was able to make her like that slowness and she went to buy herself a souvenir from the concert. By the time she had paid for them, the lights were being turned off and the band was leaving the stage after they had finished playing Magic Works; Savage was nowhere to be seen.

Flicking her wand, Tonks had her broomstick back to its original size and mounted it, kicking the grass to take off. Up in the sky, images of the concert that had just finished filled her and the thought of liking Remus more than she used to, gave her goose bumps, the good kind of goose bumps. As she neared London, though, she noticed rain was pouring all over the city and by the time Tonks got to her flat, her robes were soaking wet. She changed to her pyjamas and lied in bed, hoping for some good hours of sleep.

However, that was not what she got; and all because of Remus. In hindsight, he was the perfect bloke for her to have fallen for. And not just because she had feelings for him, although most people would allege that, but because he was kind and honest, he would always honour her. She knew he would _always_ put her in first place and she also knew she would insist for him to think of himself every once in a while, she supposed they would fight over it quite a few times, but relationships without fights tended to be boring at the very least. Several other scenarios were pictured by her in those hours, each one of them bringing joy at the perspective of having Remus in her life that way. What she did not know was what to do with that knowledge.

After rolling in bed for over three hours, Tonks was reminded of Liv insisting that she and Lupin would make a nice couple. Now, she had no choice but to agree with her. Tonks stood up, waving her wand to the nearest candle and lighting it. She walked to her desk and got a scroll of parchment, quill and ink before starting to write.

_Fine. You were right. You were right all along. I like Remus Lupin._

She stopped for a minute. Writing it down, putting it on paper somehow made it feel much more real. A drop of ink fell from her quill, staining the parchment and she needed to flick her wand in order to clear it before re-start writing.

_I don't want him to be just my mate. He's kind, gentle, polite, well-read and I bloody like him. I want him to be mine._

Tonks was not sure what else she could say in that kind of note at four in the morning, so she signed, wrapped it on Penates's leg and let the bird fly. She could see Liv's face as though her friend was right in front of her, laughing hysterically the minute she read those words.

Feeling wide awake, she rubbed her hands upon her face. What would she do?

* * *

><p>Remus knew he should stop. There was utterly no rational thought that led him to it, yet he did not stop himself from put a foot in front of the other. If he could not have a shift by her side, he just wanted to see her, make sure she was all right. Tonks had cancelled their watch together at the Hall of the Prophecy the week before, mentioning she would attend The Weird Sisters concert and most likely would not be at her best to watch the only advantage the Order had on the Death Eaters.<p>

So, on the following day, Remus Lupin found himself wrapped in Moody's invisibility cloak and nearing the Auror Office. His heart skipped a beat as he did not find her at the first sight of the cubicles, but he ventured farther on. At the end of the room, he spotted Kingsley and three other Aurors, all looking through a window to what seemed to him like a show of firecrackers. When Remus was close enough, he realised that the fireworks were, in fact, spells.

Tonks and a young man found themselves inside a separated room and their duel was a marvellous thing to see. Colourful flashes leaving both wands without enchantments coming out of their mouths as they moved, never staying in position for more than the second needed to fire the spell, a moving target was always much harder to hit. His colleague's deep voice got his mind out of the spectacle his eyes seemed to be glued upon.

'Wow! Did you see that Cascading Jinx?' Kingsley gazed at the man beside him. 'Tonks has him right where she wants.'

The other Auror shrugged.

'Savage's older and he's got the rationality.'

Kingsley shook his head slowly.

'A year hardly makes a difference. Tonks has got the guts, she's a natural. There's a reason old Mad-Eye chose her, I'm telling you.'

'Gonna hear what that barking wizard says now, will you?'

A loud explosion cut short the Auror's argument. Savage was smirking as he thought she had missed him, but Tonks had detonated an artificial stone behind her partner and when he noticed what had happened, it was already too late to put up a shield. Tonks walked to him and offered her hand to help Savage stand up. There were scrapes all over his face and burn marks on the back of his robes.

'That's for doing a bunk on Valentine's day,' she informed him, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Savage seemed dumbfounded.

'I didn't do a bunk!' he said as he started healing himself, heading to leave the room. 'I was there all along!'

Remus stepped away before they left. He had been right outside the door and having a room full of Aurors suspecting there was someone invisible in there was the last thing he needed. He left the office and headed to the lifts, where he went to the ninth level and then down the stairs to the Department of Mysteries. After having met Elphias Doge, Remus sat for a long night at the 97th corridor, listening to the older man remembering his tales from his youth and the First Wizarding War. Though, that was not exactly where his attention had been, a certain pink-haired Auror filled his mind with fast hexes and perfect moves. He recalled the duel he had just seen. Dora was amazing. And not just as an Auror.


	36. 35 Mythology

**CHAPTER 35: Mythology**

At that moment, Remus Lupin's mind was filled with doubt. He tried one more time to unsuccessfully send them all away, but unpleasant scenarios were replaying themselves despite his attempts to ignore them, each getting worse than the one before until they were utter mad catastrophes he was sure could not have happened. Silly, those were just silly thoughts he ought not to be having. What really happened – assuming something had indeed happened other than Sirius for not even about that he was sure of – was none of his business. So he kept staring at the ever diminishing sun, watching as it lowered until all that was left were the sunbeams.

'Gone,' he murmured. 'The sun has set.'

'Yeah. Huge ball of fire is gone,' muttered Tonks bitterly.

Remus then was suddenly reminded by the mention of a single word of the promise he had made to himself months before. He had assured himself he would find a way to help her get rid of her Boggart and he had done nothing about it since then. He sighed. Renewing his promise, he assured himself he would go through every textbook on the matter if it were needed. At least this time round he had somewhere to start. He was the son of Lyall Lupin after all. There had yet to exist a Boggart he could not find a way to see it amusingly.

'The inwardness of Apollo,' he said as if to just take her mind off of it.

'The _what?'_

'Inwardness, like ... the essence,' he repeated, looking away from the disappearing sun to see her furrowing brows, 'of – You do know Apollo, don't you?' But as she continued to look at him as though he had been speaking a foreign language, he added, 'The god of the sun.'

Her facial expression softened a bit.

'You're not a mythology fan?' he questioned quizzically.

'I – um ... Well, seems quite cool, but –'

'Really? It's just that Penates,' he gestured towards the tree her bird had been, 'I thought you –'

'Oh! Oh no ... That was dad,' she explained. 'Dad named him before he even gave him to me. Said it'd be fitting 'cause I was moving out of home so it had something to do with prosperity and wellbeing,' she wondered. 'Something like that.'

'Something like that,' agreed Remus, 'more related to the family, to be honest, the family's prosperity and wellbeing, protection. Quite fitting since you would be living alone. You were going to live on your own, wouldn't you?'

'Yep. Quite an Auror I would be if I needed an owl to look after me,' she supposed before adding, 'You and dad would get along.' She smiled, the truest smile Remus had seen upon her face on that evening. 'Would have quite a lot to talk about.'

However childish it was, Tonks found herself assaulted by the image of both her father and Remus talking for hours about that subject after she had brought the latter to the Tonkses' house as her boyfriend.

'And a bit with your mother as well, I suppose.'

Why, he was growing quite fond of her confused face.

'Some stars and constellations were named after Greek gods, heros and some secundary characters, you see,' his voice assuming the professorial tone he could not help whenever he was about to explain something his listener had no knowledge of. 'Andromeda is one of them, but also Orion, Cassiopeia, the twins: Castor and Pollux, all names I recall seeing on the Black family tree. Now, I'm not saying she liked them or anything –'

'I know,' she told him whilst picturing a younger version of her parents, her father trying to impress her mother by saying exactly what Remus was telling her. She only wished he had been doing the same.

'Did she give you a middle name?'

'Unfortunately.'

Remus awaited her to answer his unspoken question and just when he thought of voicing it to incite her, she gave him a response.

'Vulpecula. D'you reckon she loved me? 'Cause honestly – who gets a baby girl and says, "Oh, I love her so much, I'm gonna name her Nymphadora Vulpecula!" And I bet dad was drunk and passed out or she dealt with the papers without letting him know or something. 'M not buying all that rubbish he agreed with her because she had given up everything for him already. Nymphadora Vulpecula is not something you agree with! No matter how much – You're laughing?' she asked all of a sudden when a chuckle came from him and Tonks propped herself onto her elbow in order to look at him. 'You _are_ laughing.'

'I apologise,' he said still smiling.

'And here I thought you were a nice bloke,' she mocked and Remus sat, looking at her from above.

'If finding you amusing does not make of me a nice bloke, then yes, I am guilty. However, could I ask of you a minute to try to redeem myself?'

Still trying hard not to blush at his compliment, Tonks narrowed her eyes as an attempt to make him believe she was actually considering giving him a negative answer, but she knew all too well what her answer would be the instant his face softened and the request was made.

'I suppose everyone deserves a second chance.'

'And I'll try not to ruin mine,' he assured her before gesturing towards the tarred bench they were. 'So, if you please.'

Glad that night had already fallen and the stars were visible. Remus lay back down and she mimicked him tentatively.

'Can you show me where the constellation of Andromeda is?'

'There.'

Tonks pointed to a group of stars that seemed to be organised in some sort of pattern just so she did not have to assume she had no idea whatsoever as to where the constellation her mother had been named after was, even though she was well aware that her plan could not last for long.

'You mean ...' Remus reached for her hand with his own, sending a jolt of adrenaline down her arm with his touch and she hoped he did not notice she had tried to hide it as he moved her hand an inch to the left, 'that one?'

'Yes, of course!' The irony in her answer was palpable.

'All right,' he grinned. 'And would you know which one is this?' He moved her hand again, indicating a smaller constellation, which consisted of only a few stars not far from Andromeda.

'Vulpecula?' she guessed.

'Precisely.' He nodded, letting go of her hand and Tonks could not help but to feel a tiny bit disappointed. 'Also known as the Fox Constellation, from the Latin. They're rather close, but from different families. Vulpecula is somewhat unreachable to Andromeda, small and fragile, as though it was a being that needed her protection. Are you familiar with Andromeda's tale?'

'The one from the mythology?'

'Yeah.'

'A bit.' She frowned, recalling the memory of her father telling it to her. 'I know this monster wanted to kill her to punish her parents, but she was saved by a hero ... Purseus?'

'Perseus,' he corrected her. 'Well, that's basically it. But um, Cassiopeia, Andromeda's mother, had insulted the Nereids by saying she was more beautiful than they were. She should know better than to insult other's beauty. So, some say the Nereids went to Poseidon, the god of the sea, and he sent a mighty monster, but others say they sent the monster themselves; point is the monster was sent to destroy king Cepheus's lands, who was Andromeda's father. The king went to an oracle for advice and he was told to give his daughter to the monster to appease everything. Perseus had been flying –'

'He could fly? Just like that?'

'Hermes's had lent him the winged sandals to fight Medusa.'

'_He fought Medusa too?'_

'Well, yes, but I'm afraid if we go in there, we'd miss the meeting,' he grinned.

'Right.' Tonks nodded curtly. 'Some other time then.'

'Sure. So, he saw Andromeda, pale and immobile; legend has it, that if it weren't for the tears on her cheeks and the breeze on her hair, he would have fought she was a marble statue. She was paralysed, but he managed to get her name and why she was chained to the rock from her. He then, as the son of Zeus, asked her parents to be her suitor, but he said he would try to deserve the virgin by the services he would provide. Her parents agreed because she was actually betrothed to her uncle, Phineus. Perseus fought the monster in a battle of water and blood and managed to defeat it. Then during the wedding, Phineus claimed Andromeda, but her father said that had been the gods' will and she would not marry him, he said that he should've claimed her when she was about to be devoured by the monster. Phineus attacks Perseus either way, so he uses Medusa's head to petrify Phineus's comrades; Phineus begs for his life, but Perseus wasn't a merciful man and petrified him too. So Perseus and Andromeda got married and had lots of children. Later on Athena decided to commemorate her by placing her image amongst the stars.' Remus sighed. 'Any resemblance with your parents' story is a mere coincidence.'

Tonks joined him in a light laughter.

'Who would say, uh? Dad's a hero, who saved her from a monster and from marrying a relative,' she mused before adding with a hint of mockery, 'No resemblance at all.'

'Isn't it? Perseus is actually the only hero who had a happy ending.'

'Not even Hercules?' Tonks's eyebrows burrowed.

Remus took in a breath and let it out, taking his time to breathe again.

'Hercules is poisoned and dies, actually ...' He put his hand behind his head. 'Perseus is Hercules's great grandfather.'

'You don't say.' Tonks's eyebrows rose. 'Everybody's related in this shite.'

'Reminding you of any family we know?'

They both laughed joyfully at it.

'But yeah,' Remus continued after the laughter had died, 'Perseus has a few complications along the way, but he lives his life with Andromeda happily thereafter. And all that to tell you that Andromeda is in the family of Perseus whereas Vulpecula is in Hercules's. However much she wanted you, you were always outside her reach. She would need to make – no pun intended,' he added with a smile, 'a herculean effort to have you, since she was trapped in the pure-blood circle. Something tells me Andromeda had at least this bit of your name planned long before she even met your father. Now Nymphadora –'

'_Don't_ call me that.'

'Wasn't calling you by it, simply moving on to the first bit of your name.'

'Oh ...' She still did not enjoy having to hear it over and over again.

'Yes, now, Nymphadora means, if I'm not mistaken, gift of the nymphs.'

In the pause he took to breathe, she answered his rhetorical comment, 'You are not.'

'You're ruining my second chance, Dora.'

'Sorry.' Tonks bit her lip, her hand clutching to the piece of parchment in her pocket and wishing no more to interrupt him, but she would need to voice words far earlier than she expected.

'Nymphs are beings related to all sorts of plants, but they were also responsible for reproduction. Did your parents have any trouble conceiving?'

'Not that I'm aware of,' she said after a second.

'Huh.'

'What?'

'I could swear you'd say yes. Even had the whole speech planned with you being their precious gift and Andromeda loving you before she loved your father, but I suppose that does not fit.' He exhaled somewhat frustrated. 'I offer you then a replacement that is _surely_ not as good, but fits. Andromeda always had a passion for the flora, was always marvelled with their power to create a whole new life out of themselves and so she named you after the entities that cared for the plant life in the ancient Greece,' he grinned. 'I suppose she could still love you before she loved your dad.'

'So, according to you, she'd rather name her daughter Nymphadora instead of one of the thousands beautiful flower names out there just because she liked plants?'

Remus rubbed the back of his neck.

'That's not good at all, is it?'

Tonks shook her head.

'Am I still considered an evil bloke in your book?'

'You never were.' A seriousness in her voice that did not match the light tone of their conversation thus far.

He felt a sudden warmth fill his chest and a grand affection for the witch beside him, which left him unable to voice a single word for a few instants.

'I could give you the benefit of the doubt if you rather,' she mocked.

'No.' Remus swallowed his bashfulness away. 'I-I appreciate it, really do.' He remained in silence for another instant before adding, 'Thank you.'

'You earned it.' Glad to leave the seriousness behind them, Tonks smiled.

'I suppose it'd still fit the fact that the Nereids are also known as the sea nymphs and her mother in the Greek myth was one of the nymphs' nemesis and by running away from her fate with your father she was, somehow, double-crossing her and thus, the nymphs were so content that granted her the most precious gift: you. You'd need to be mad to think she didn't love you after something like that.' Remus propped on his elbow and looked down into her eyes. 'You are her gift of the nymphs. I'm pretty sure she loved you before she loved your father.'

He found it endearing the way she chewed on her bottom lip and would have find even more if the light had allowed him to see the pink upon her cheeks as she saw her name with a whole new perspective and realised that she was even more sure of the way she felt towards him. Pity they had been talking about her parents when she realised that or rather her fictional self's mythological parents or just her fictional parents or – Tonks exhaled heavily.

'You made me hate it a little bit less.'

Remus laughed.

'Still don't like it though?'

'Still don't like it.' He lay back down and she pointed to a row of three stars. 'Are those something?'

'That's Orion. His belt, to be honest.' He got her hand one more time, tracing the constellation's image. 'He's shooting an arrow with a bow. See?'

'And where's the head?'

'You'll have to imagine the head.'

'Is he kneeling or something?' she asked. 'Why are his legs so short?'

'I don't know,' he admitted. 'Guess it is required a bit of imagination.'

'It sure is,' commented Tonks. 'Wonder how that pure-blood twat would feel towards being immortalised with a bow and an arrow instead of a wand, though.'

'Interesting thought,' remarked Remus.

'Serves him right,' Tonks decided before asking, 'And where's Sirius?'

'Right there.' Remus pointed to an incredibly bright dot in the dark sky. 'The brightest star.' And he showed her the other stars that formed the Canis Major.

'This one actually makes sense.'

'Orion was a hunter, you see,' he added. 'He's chasing the Taurus,' Remus pointed the constellation with said name and then another one, 'or the Lepus, whichever you prefer, with his two dogs.'

'Is Regulus in the Mini Canis?' she guessed.

'Canis Minor,' cleared Remus with a chuckle. 'But no, the Regulus star is in the Leo constellation.'

'Too bad ... What about Remus?' she asked, referring to his mythological homonym.

'Remus doesn't have a constellation.'

'Shame.' Tonks frowned. 'Why not?'

He shrugged.

'I suppose no one's interested in the one who dies.'

Her frown softened and Tonks supported her weight on her elbow to look at him properly. She felt her heart tighten.

'Everybody dies in the end, Remus.'

'Well, he died before the end, though,' he argued. 'Nursed by a wolf, brought up by a shepherd and murdered by his own brother, who lived on and ruled Rome. Nothing special about his story.'

Tonks watched as he sat on the bench. She knew exactly what he was trying to do, she saw right through him. He had done it before. And she was not about to let him belittle himself like that. Not when she was around to stop him.

'Good thing you can write your own story then,' she said sitting upright, 'a brilliant one; whereas _I_ am doomed to forever live under Perseus's and Andromeda's shadows.'

Remus chuckled.

'I'm pretty sure Perseus and Andromeda didn't have a daughter named Nymphadora,' he pointed out and gathered the courage to mouth what his brain was telling him to keep for himself, to mouth what his heart knew she would appreciate to hear. 'You're one of a kind, the only daughter of Edward and Andromeda _Tonks_. You'd stand out either way.' Remus got a lock of her shoulder-length hair and placed it behind her ear. 'It's nearly eight. We'd better not be late.'

He stood up and waited for her to do so as well. They made their way back to the twelve Grimmauld Place feeling the air around themselves much lighter than when they left the house. Remus pocketed his hand holding his wand firmly and knew that Tonks had been doing the same for she had barely taken her hand from her pocket on that evening. He started replaying memories as they passed on that same spot they were a few hours earlier.

The Auror had arrived at the Order Headquarters not after her obligations at the Ministry were done, he supposed. She seemed uptight; glad to see him, certainly, but still something seemed off. She must have seen through him for she soon asked for her cousin's whereabouts and Remus had had no choice but to inform her that he had decided to go for a walk on his own. Apparently, Padfoot needed neither an owner nor a leash. She insisted upon looking for him, even though Remus had argued that Sirius would return soon enough. _It worked on Halloween, didn't it?_, she had reasoned. But Remus knew he would not be mad enough to let Dumbledore get suspicious on his escapades. The slip. _It's not only the second time, is it?_ He remembered as he had closed his eyes and nodded, not feeling brave enough to look her in the eye. So far he had been bearing his best friend's secret on his own, but then he had made her guilty for not informing Dumbledore as well.

They had gone out to look for their friend, but neither of them had much hope of finding Sirius and thus they had ended up simply walking around the square across the street. Remus felt even guiltier for all he remembered from that bit of the evening were his shattered shoes. Eventually he had let himself fall upon one of the benches some Muggle kids had tarred years before. Tonks, though, seemed to have been worse than him since she had lied down on the same bench, glancing at the twilight sky. Remus then had lied beside her, his hair touching hers just to see if he could get from her something more than the dull, upset expression she had been wearing since before she arrived at the Grimmauld Place. She had managed no more than an almost imperceptible curl of one of her lips' ends.

All the while, Remus remained oblivious that her wand was not the only item Tonks had been holding tightly in her grip inside her pocket. He did not know that she held a piece of parchment with her friend's response for the letter she had sent to Romania a few days before. He did not know that the parchment had a few advices, which Tonks had decided to follow since she had no idea as to exactly what she should do with the knowledge that she wanted Remus as more than a friend. He did not know that the reason something seemed wrong had happened to Tonks was that the letter said that her friend, despite barely knowing him, reckoned Remus was not the kind of bloke who would take well if she just spit it all to him. He would remain oblivious to the fact that Tonks would follow her friend's advice and would spend as much time with him as possible, get to know all the little things he liked and invite him to her own life, letting clues here and there until he realised for himself or was safe enough to let him know. He did not know that she had loved how much younger he had seen during the couple of hours they had spent together even though she remained ignorant to the fact that he had only been acting that way so she would smile brighter.

Molly greeted them with an exasperated face as they entered the Grimmauld Place.

'Oh, thank goodness!' she exclaimed clapping her hands together. 'Dumbledore'll be here any minute. Where have you been?'

'We were just ...' Tonks began, but could not go on as she saw Sirius behind the elder woman, glaring at her.

'Out for a walk before the meeting, Molly,' Remus completed with a very convincing smile, looking at his friend before returning his eyes to the Weasley. 'You needn't worry. Is everyone here yet?'

'Hestia is on guard duty tonight with Dedalus and _Mundungus_' Molly spoke his name as though he was the most despicable wizard to ever exist, 'is on patrol in Hogsmeade. The professors are already here, but Dumbledore said it wasn't a very important meeting, so –'

'No need to hurry then?' Remus asked and he was quite sure he got a glimpse of the Weasley's ears turning red.

Tonks was not sure whether he had made her embarrassed on purpose or not, but did not hide her smile.

'Oh, well, I, ahn ...' Molly trailed off as she walked towards the kitchen.

Accompanied by Sirius, Remus and Tonks followed her and a few minutes later, Dumbledore joined them. The meeting began and they started sharing their reports on the watch on Harry for the weekend in Hogsmeade. All professors seemed to agree that the only thing out of the ordinary was his meeting with the journalist Rita Skeeter along with Hermione and some other young girl. Remus perceived the Headmaster narrowing his eyes at that comment, though none of them could tell exactly about what they had talked in all the hours Harry stayed at The Three Broomsticks. No movement at the Hall of the Prophecy had been reported the whole week and they distributed the shifts for the following week. Remus volunteered for his usual two night shifts.

'I'll go with him,' Tonks offered promptly and winked at him when their eyes met to which Remus responded with a smile and a curt nod.

Then Severus hinted that Harry could keep his mouth shut in the same way he could keep others from entering his mind and Remus found himself distracted. Tonks, sitting beside him, drummed her fingers upon the table; certainly bored to no end with the professor's note on the boy and asking herself if he would ever talk about something moderately interesting. Sirius, on his other side, was grabbing the sleeves of his own robes, clutching his teeth to stop himself from arguing in front of Dumbledore yet again that if Harry still could not defend himself against an attack to his mind was because he had an awful teacher. When Remus returned to himself, Snape was informing the new recruits Voldemort had been able to bring to his side, a couple of Ministry workers who could give him some more advantage to keep himself hidden for as long as the Dark Lord wanted or needed to. It seemed that his faithful servants who had been in Azkaban were not enough. Soon, the Headmaster had bid them good bye refusing Molly's invitation for him to stay for dinner. Remus supposed he needed a quiet place to think not only about what Harry had been put himself into and what their next move would be as Voldemort was getting stronger by the day and the number of his followers had done nothing but to increase.

'Sirius!' called Tonks as her cousin rose from his seat apparently to do something else. 'Bring in the stereo, would you, mate?' she asked with a wide grin.

'It's time already?' Sirius frowned.

'It's just started,' she answered checking her watch.

Sirius left to fetch the stereo and Tonks turned to the Weasley by the cook.

'You don't mind, do you, Molly?' she questioned, walking towards her. 'If we listen to the match here in the kitchen?'

'Um, what?' Molly looked from the knives cutting vegetables to the Auror behind her pointing her thumb to the table where Sirius had put the stereo and was waving his wand to turn it on. 'Oh, no, dear, of course not. Just try not to wake Mrs Black, please.'

'We'll try,' Tonks said with a smirk before gesturing to the vegetables with her head. 'D'you want some help?'

'Uuuh! That was a nice catch from Bradley,' narrated the voice coming from the speaker.

'Nah, I'll be done in a jiffy.' She shook her head, flicking her wand the vegetables flew to a pot with boiling water on the cook.

Tonks pulled the nearest empty chair and sat on it, her eyes flying straight to Remus sitting across her and with a strained expression upon her face, she morphed the pink away from her hair and the next instant it was black and white.

'Griffiths tries to get it, but he passes on to Campbell!'

'Where's your pin?' Tonks asked as Sirius grunted and he saw that she had a pin of her own on her robes.

Remus wondered when she had put it on for he had been watching her all the while since Dumbledore ended the meeting. Had she been with it already when she arrived? No ... He would have noticed, wouldn't he?

'I, um, upstairs,' he answered.

'_Accio Remus's pin_!' Tonks waved her wand and the item came flying to her hand. 'You still have a long way to go,' she commented giving the pin to him and Remus put it on.

'I don't believe this!' Sirius exclaimed.

'And Morgan gets the Quaffle!'

'You're really fraternising with the enemy?' Sirius demanded eyeing his best friend.

'I what?' Remus frowned.

'You're not on my side?' It was much more an accusation than a question.

'I ...'

'How did you do this?' Sirius now was glaring at Tonks.

'Morgan shoots ... and Bradley blocks her again.'

'Magic!' she grinned.

'Excuse me, Tonks, dear.' Molly levitated the pot from the cook to the table and started serving the plates. 'Here.' She placed the steak and kidney pudding in front of the Auror.

'Ta!' she thanked her.

'I spent nearly ten years trying to convince you to cheer for the single team in the league that has only ever hired witches and now you –' He stopped to listen to the narrator. 'Com'on, Gwenog!'

'Wait! Wait a secon – Bradley missed! Jones is gonna shooooooot and she SCORES!'

'There you go, Remus.' Molly handed him a plate.

'HA!' Sirius glared at both of them.

'Thanks, Molly.'

'That's for changing sides, Moony!'

'I – I've never cheered for the –' He paused before turning to Tonks. 'Which team are we playing against?'

'Sirius.' Molly put a plate for him.

Tonks chuckled and shook her head lightly.

'The Holyhead Harpies.'

'Thank you! Never cheered for the Holyhead Harpies. How come I changed sides?'

Sirius muttered something that sounded an awful lot like traitor, tossing a bite of the steak in his mouth.

'Maddock's with the Quaffle. Morgan is going to block him – Wow! A Bludger from Roberts stopped her. Maddock's getting closer. James is in position. He's getting closer, he's – IT'S IN! Maddock tied the score! Twenty, twenty.'

Smiling (for he thought that was the action expected from a fan when their team scores), Remus looked up to Tonks just to see a wide grin upon her lips and she turned to her cousin, shrugging.

'That's what you get for choosing your team because of the player's body and not their ability.'

As the match went on, Remus let his eyes dart to the cabinets behind Tonks's head, but not paying attention to them as he focused on the narrator's voice. However, he openly watched her whenever he felt her mind was fixed on the match. Her smile whenever the Magpies scored or the scorn and frown on her face whenever Sirius made a nasty comment when the Harpies scored, he liked both of them. He reminded himself to at least smile whenever the Magpies scored a goal. Molly and the other members were already gone, the three of them were the only ones left at the Headquarters. He discovered that counting the score of the match in smiles and frowns was certainly much more ... attractive. Thus far, eleven smiles and eight frowns, plus one to each side from before they started listening to the match. Magpies 120, Harpies 90. Remus had yet to realise that an Auror was never unaware of their surroundings and Tonks had noticed every single time he had stared at her, wondering if he was searching for advice on how to behave during your Quidditch team's match since it was the only plausible reason for him to be staring at her so frequently. Two frowns later, the narrator began screaming even louder.

'CAMPBELL DASHED ACROSS THE PITCH! Adams is right behind him. She's nearing him, _she's nearing him_! Hand's on the air. One inch and IT'S OVER! CAMPBELL HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! THE MAGPIES WIN!'

Tonks threw her head backwards and for the first time, Remus did not have to remind himself to smile, it came easily and naturally to him at that sight of her laughing out of sheer happiness.

'SCUM! DIRTYING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHER'S!'

After a moment of Tonks's laughter and Sirius scowling at the stereo, he waved his wand to end her celebration as the Auror stood up.

'Sorry about that, cos,' Tonks said, offering her hand for Sirius to shake. Although Remus did not think she felt sorry about her team's victory at all. 'You lot really need to find a faster Snitch, it's just too easy.' She winked as Sirius shook her hand.

'HALFBLOODS! HALF-BREEDS! THAT CANNOT BE!'

'Didn't think it was fast last week against the Pride, did you?'

'That was an accident.'

'Yeah, right,' Sirius said between his teeth before moving to close his mother's portrait. 'SHUT UP, YOU OLD HAG! SHUT UP!'

'That's our most famous say, did you know?' Tonks addressed to him as they walked to the door. 'Never told you, did I?'

'I don't think so.' Remus shook his head.

'Eunice Murray said that. Long time ago, in the thirties, not sure when,' she told him. 'Usually the crowd screams it at the end when we win. Beautiful thing to see ...'

Tonks stared at him for a short instant, her eyes narrowing a bit as she seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

'Is it really?'

'Yeah ...'

'See you on Friday then?'

'Huh?' Tonks furrowed her brows.

'Our shift ... the prophecy,' Remus explained before opening the door.

'Of course!' Tonks grinned. 'See you Friday night.' She wouldn't miss it for anything.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So ... I may or may not be really into mythology and thus incredibly happy to finally write this chapter. xD I apologise if there is anyone who doesn't like myhology there and found awfully boring to read this, but I honestly doubt that with all the references in the Black family that they would never have talked about it. I just wonder if J.K. Rowling followed the same line of thought I did to come up with Nymphadora, I don't think so, but there's a chance, right? ;)

Anyway, thanks for all your brilliant reviews! I really do love them all. I'm sorry if I didn't answer all of them, but, as I said, I was travelling and I just got home last week. Please leave a comment in the box down here before you go. ^^ Thanks!


	37. 36 Magnetic Poles

**A/N: **And here's my happy birthday to Remus! ^^ I hope you guys like this chapter because I certainly loved writing it. xD  
>Thanks to LupinFamilyFan91 for reminding me of letting you lot know about my edited chapters. The list hasn't changed since I last posted because I recently got a beta and we're going through them together and that takes time. But I'll be sure to keep you updated on what's going on from now on. Also, on that note, I'd also like to thank Alex for betaing this chapter for me! Thanks, love! I got the epeolotry idea from a blog on Tumblr with that url, all the words I got there, but not all the meanings.<p>

And a special thanks to all my reviewers who are brilliant human beings for taking time to write a little something and I do hope you guys do it again at the end of this page. So that's it, guys! Enjoy!

* * *

><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 36: Magnetic Poles<strong>

Tonks's hands were in her pockets, her eyes moving from right to the left searching for any activity out of the ordinary. She entered the Hall of the Prophecy humming Blinding Spell by The Weird Sisters. She had been waiting for that moment the whole day, counting the hours from when she would finally be free from the Auror Office and would take the stairs to the Department of Mysteries. The moment she heard the steps, she knew any Auror in her situation would shove the end of their wand on the stranger's nose and demand an answer for a question only the right person would know. However, Nymphadora Tonks simply took her wand out of her pocket pointing it to the row from where the footsteps were coming from, leant on the nearest shelf, smirked slightly and waited.

Having realised someone had entered the Hall of the Prophecy, Remus went to meet them with his wand held tightly in his hand. Soon he saw Tonks casually standing by a shelf of prophecies and pointing his wand at her, noting her smirk.

'Where did I tell you I supposed the name Nymphadora came from?'

'_You had to choose my name, didn't you?_' Even though she was troubled, Remus noticed that she never stopped pointing her wand to him. 'From Andromeda's mum – I forgot her name, being some sort of enemy of the nymphs. Honestly, she should have chosen another enemy, that way maybe mum would've named me after something better. Oh yeah, and then, after she was saved from the monster, Andromeda sort of didn't marry the bloke she was supposed to –' she stopped herself having seen Remus already lowering his wand.

'How are you, Dora?' he asked amused.

'I haven't even got to the actual answer.'

Remus shrugged.

'You've proved to me that you're you,' he told her. Truth to be told, he had recognised the twinkle in her gaze from the moment he laid his eyes on her. The question had been a mere formality he was sure she would have liked for him to follow, which he cut short when it had become too obvious.

'Remus, me hating my name is not news to anyone,' she informed him. 'I could be anyone – I could kill you.'

'Why don't you?'

'Because I'm me and you're you and –' _I like you._

'Exactly how much time you've been spending with Mad-Eye, did you say?' he teased.

_Barely any at all_, she thought. A certain lycanthrope seemed to have claimed all her attention lately. Maybe she was exaggerating a bit.

'All right ...' She exhaled heavily.

'How was your day at the Office?' He tilted his head upwards and they started to walk to the 97th corridor.

'The usual. No one's got any proof that the escapees had any sort of help from the outside yet.' She sighed. 'We can't prove the Dementors left on their own and basically everyone believes Sirius is somehow behind everything. If only they knew the truth ... When will that daft git see reason?'

'When he sees Voldemort himself, or when that is incontrovertible proof he's back.' Remus stopped looking at the row with the number 97 on it and sitting down. 'When someone gets hurt.'

'But we won't let that happen,' she affirmed. 'After all, that's why the Order exists, isn't it? To fight, to stop him from hurting other people.'

'We'll certainly try,' he assured her, his voice getting lower, 'but this is war, Dora. You saw what happened to Arthur. We simply cannot guarantee everyone's safety.'

Tonks made a low sound, clearly in disbelief.

'Always the pessimist.'

'Not pessimist, realistic,' he began. 'Don't tell me you signed up for the Order unaware of this, you're just too smart. People will die, whether they are innocents or members of the Order. Could be me. Could be you.' He realised, feeling his heart tighten and made a silent pray in case there was someone listening to that old werewolf. _Please, don't let it be her._

'Blimey! I'm not a little girl. This is what I do for a living, Remus, in case you've forgotten. I'd be honestly surprised if none of the other Aurors would want to join. We're paid to catch dark wizards! I wonder how Savage would react if I invited him to do his job in our free hours.'

'It's not the same, not the same _at all_. Look, I know you were young the last time, Dora, but –'

'All right, all right! I've had enough, OK?' She raised both her hands in redemption. 'Seems like everywhere I go is doom and gloom and Voldemort and casualties and "No, he's not back!" and "Of course he is!". Well, I've decided I've had enough. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Not here. Not with you.'

Remus saw the frankness in her eyes, the desire to live the moment, to stop fearing the future for it would do them absolutely no good and nodded. He couldn't find it in his heart to deny her that wish. One of the things he enjoyed the most about being in her company was that whenever she around, it was almost as though they were not at war at all. She brightened the day. She talked about nothing and everything and it seemed to him that it was just another happy, peaceful day. She erased his worries. She brightened the room. The name Nymphadora seemed to not be enough for her. He would not be surprised to learn that she was, in fact, a heroine, a daughter of Apollo. _As though all those myths were real_, he mused and stopped himself from grinning when he remembered that said god was in love with a nymph.

'What do you want to talk about then?'

'Something fun!' she begged, grinning. 'I don't know, um, oh! Tell me one of the Marauders' best pranks. Then I can share some of mine.'

'One of our best pranks ... Not an easy choice, you know. Lots of them to choose from.' He thought for a few seconds, watching her face as if she did not believe him, surely thinking she had better ones to tell, even though he knew that was not true. 'Oh, um, once we had got Severus locked in a broom cabinet for a couple of hours, not much, we set him free afterwards. However, he wanted revenge and we realised he had been after us, trying to get us unprepared. _But_ we had an idea, a perfect one. One too good to let it pass.'

Amazed, he watched her face light up with curiosity for a couple of seconds.

'He had always looked like a bat, you know, that's not something from his adulthood. And Hallowe'en was coming.'

'Merlin ...' Tonks bit her bottom lip in anticipation.

'We spent hours upon hours in the library looking for the right spells and calculating every move.' His eyes focused in the darkness of the room as he lost himself in the memory. 'We waited for him to finish his dinner and did our best to hide ourselves under James's cloak – Have I told you about his invisibility cloak?'

'You've mentioned it.'

'All right, so there we were, just around the corner with our wands ready for him. The second Severus appeared we transfigured him into a giant bat.'

'Get away! You _didn't_!'

Tonks's eyes widened and Remus confirmed.

'He must hate bats nowadays,' she supposed. 'Me and a couple of mates shoved a hundred of those Hallowe'en bats they put in the castle in his chambers once.'

'Oh my ...'

Tonks nodded emphatically.

'But do tell, what happened?'

'He kept squeaking and flying around the corridors for a while. Problem is we didn't realise that bit of magic is a bit too advanced for four boys who had just started their fourth year.' He paused as she chuckled. 'Yeah, thank Merlin nothing bad happened to him. I mean, he was making some ultrasonic sounds for a couple of weeks, but that was all. We, on the other hand, had the misfortune of being caught laughing our arses off the moment Filch came and saw him going back to human. What are the odds, I ask you. Bet Mrs Norris had something to do with it ...'

She was interested. She was. She _really_ was. She could swear to any living soul that his story was remarkable. But there was something ... something in the way his voice accompanied the story's timbre perfectly, something in the way he told the story, something in the way his lips moved, curling upwards, smiling, opening and closing. Oh! She wanted those lips opening and closing on hers, pressing down, kissing her, wetting their way with the marvellous tongue that articulated his words. By Merlin, she wanted to be the only thing in his mind; she wanted him to be as lost in her as she was in him. The thought of him snogging her senseless against that row of prophecies was oh so hot!

'Well, you're smiling now, but I can assure you it wasn't funny then.' Remus nodded.

Tonks guilty chuckled to hide the fact that she was smiling for a reason completely unrelated to his boyhood mischief.

'James had to jinx the wardrobe behind Filch's back to get us out of his office unharmed. Of course later on McGonagall found us in the common room and we all had detentions for a month anyway. In hindsight, if we already had the map, we might've avoided being caught.'

She raised her eyebrows wondering how they had got to Filch's office in the first place. Her right hand gripped her wand, the left, a piece of parchment she had begun taking with her everywhere she went. _Great, tough Auror Tonks completely head over heels for an older, bookish bloke!_, it read. _It's love, petal. It's love._ To what she had promptly denied on the letter she had sent back to her friend. Liv would never be satisfied. Hadn't Tonks just admitted that she liked him? Now she was demanding a declaration of love. Couldn't she give it a break? _No. Not the L word. Not yet. One person can like another that way and not be in love with them. His birthday's coming up though, and I've got something planned._

'Bit hot in here, isn't it?' she commented hoping it would not seem too out of the blue.

'You think so?' Remus glanced around the room with uncertainty. 'To be honest I think it's somewhat chilly.'

Tonks did her best to hide her face, wondering what his reaction would be if she wrote him the kind of note that would work a treat if he were any of her old boyfriends:

_Dear Rem,_

_My body's temperature has got nothing to do with this 'lost and buried a 1000 ft in the ground' place's temperature. You should come and check._

_Love,_

_Dora_

* * *

><p>'It's your birthday tomorrow!' Molly clapped her hands together.<p>

Remus eyed Sirius, who shot him a bright grin back. He wondered if he should ever forgive his best friend for casually letting slip that crucial bit of information right in front of Molly. He must have waited all dinner to mention it, as if he thought Remus would not mind he had said it just when they were preparing themselves for a game of three-dimensional wizard's chess.

'Yes, Molly, it is,' he assented however tempted he was to lie, he could not, not with Sirius there ready to prove him wrong.

'And?' she demanded. 'What do you want?'

'Me?' Remus leant back on his armchair. 'I want nothing, Molly, really.'

'Oh, but we can't let it go without at least a tiny celebration,' she argued.

'She's right, Moony,' Sirius added promptly. 'A tiny celebration, come on.'

'There's no need for any of that, Sirius,' Remus responded with a reprimanding look. 'Thank you, Molly.'

'I'll just bake you a cake then,' Molly insisted.

'I'm tired –'

'All you'll have to do is sit on the chair and eat some of it,' she resumed.

'Come on, Moony, I'll see if I can dig up some The Weird Sisters albums to play for you.'

Remus sighed, looking from her to his best friend and nodded. He finally agreed for not having the strength to argue any longer; his body still craved the sleepless hours of the past moon. He figured it could not be so bad, he would stay in bed all night long and proceed to the kitchen. No candles, he decided. He would smile as Molly would cut him a piece of the cake and eat it with a bottle of Butterbeer before heading back to bed. Simple as that. He could do it.

'Great!' Molly smiled pleased with herself. 'I'll get the boys –'

He did not want to make any comment, but Remus wondered who she meant by "boys" as Bill was her only available son, since he doubted she would make Charlie cross the continent for his birthday, Percy remained loyal to the Ministry and all her other three boys were still at Hogwarts.

'I hope Arthur doesn't have to work late tomorrow, they've held them once this week already.' Suddenly, she stopped eyes lost as though she had just remembered something. 'Remus, would you invite dear Tonks? I'm afraid I won't be able to. I know you're tired, but she told me earlier has to work a bit later than usual and she'll be seeing you at night, I'm sure she won't hold you for long,' she finished with a warm smile and left to find Arthur before Remus could find a nice way to give her a negative answer or ask why they would all be working on a Sunday.

Seeing his glare, Sirius approached him.

'Come on, old Moony, don't pretend you wouldn't like going there.'

'Going there is not the point.' Remus frowned.

'Oh, bet seeing her is, right?' Sirius crossed his arms over his chest challengingly. 'You don't get to see her enough, do you?'

'She's a member of the Order and a good friend of mine, Sirius.' Remus reached over to retrieve a copy of the Prophet from the coffee table as if to give himself something to do. 'I see her frequently enough.'

The next second, Sirius had moved to sit on the sofa beside him.

'Moony, I'm your friend, all right?' He placed his elbows on his knees, gesticulating towards himself. 'For old time's sake, let's be honest with each other here.'

'I'm being honest,' he promised trying to find something salvageable in the paper. 'I've got no idea where you're trying to get at, though.'

'Oh, now you're gonna tell me you don't wanna shag her too?' Sirius threw himself on the back of the sofa before adding, 'I know I would.'

Remus blinked staring at Sirius, not quite believing what he had just heard. Nymphadora was a great woman and he held her dearly, but Sirius had just crossed the line. It had not been the first time he was assaulted with the need to protect her.

'_She's your –_'

'Think of those legs, Moony,' he suggested, 'those fine, strong legs of hers wrapped around you keeping the blood just where it ought to be. And those tits! Those tits on your face. Reckon she would make them bigger if I asked her nicely?'

Smirking, Sirius saw his friend's features and shook his head as The Daily Prophet fell from Remus's hands, but his face was in utter shock and he did not seem to notice.

' 'M not buying it, Moony, I know you're an actor. Tell me exactly what you were doing when you suddenly agreed to cheer for her Quidditch team, or just last week when you offered to take all the shifts with her, or when you threw a paddy when she volunteered for that werewolf mission with you.'

'_Protecting her!'_

Sirius's eyes looked deeply into his, their piercing blueness questioning him if he was sure of what he had just said or if there was ... something else.

'You remember that time James was almost giving up on Lily?' Sirius was looking at the fireplace. 'Sixth year, around April, I think. He said that he wouldn't let that tit-head Snivellus get those wrong, Dark Arts ideas in her head. She wasn't like that. He said that if he couldn't have her, he would at least _protect_ her.'

Had he just insinuated that –? No, Sirius was out of his mind. All those years in Azkaban had finally kicked in and he had lost it completely. He could not feel for her what – No. That was absolutely insane ... wasn't it? Someone had to come and tell him that it was insane. Comparing what James felt for Lily with him and – James was utterly, completely, madly in love with Lily for years. Remus just wanted to protect Tonks. From the beginning he just wanted to look after her. All these months he just wanted to protect her. She was Sirius's little cousin, he was entitled to protect her, to care for her. That was bright, smart, funny, colourful Nymphadora he was thinking about for Merlin's sake! Could someone please come and tell him that he was losing it?

Remus barely noticed Sirius had looked back from the fireplace to him and smirked. He hardly felt the sympathetic pats on the back Sirius gave him as he walked out.

'Yeah, mate.'

* * *

><p>Sleeping precisely four nights after a full moon had always been easy for Remus Lupin, especially after he had entered his thirties. He was becoming more and more tired after his transformations, needing much more time than the one or two days he needed when he was an adolescent at Hogwarts. On that night however, his sleep was troubled to say the least. For most of the night he rolled in his bed recalling what seemed to be every second he had spent with her over the last several months. From the moment she was Andy and Ted's daughter to the girl scowling after he voiced her first name, to <em>Just Tonks,<em> to the young woman to whom he presented his mother's bracelet, to Dora who assured him he was one of her closest friends.

When he actually managed to drift off, though, his dreams were filled with disconnected images, some real and some created by his disturbed mind. Tonks with a way too short skirt crossing her legs and exposing much more skin than what was needed. Tonks under the mistletoe. _Kiss me, Remus._ Tonks laughing so unworriedly that he wished just for a split second he could forget all his problems and enjoy life as she did. Tonks grabbing him and kissing him full on the mouth. Tonks at some familiar room he could not quite place talking to and being watched in awe by him until he interrupted her.

'Smile for me,' he had requested.

And she had. Opening that easy, beautiful, tender smile of hers before leaning over and pressing her lips upon his as though they were in some sort of relationship and that was something that happened on a daily basis.

He went downstairs and had breakfast before anyone in the house. He tried not to listen to Kreacher's murmurs about his condition as he ate the burnt eggs and sausages. Back in his room, he realised that the sun had come from behind the grey clouds. After months of snow and heavy rains, London finally had a beautiful, warm day.

Remus shaved, waved his wand to cut about half an inch of his hair, which was starting to get long and he donned one of his best robes.

'You could use a new set robes, couldn't you?' shot his reflection in the mirror.

Yes, he could. But then again, he could also use a new brain that did not think of Tonks every second of his life since Sirius had mentioned her the night before and a new heart that did not nearly jump out of chest whenever he was reminded of her smile.

At a quarter to nine he figured it would be late enough to start his way to Tonks's flat. He Apparated into one of the alleys nearby her building that was usually empty and walked the rest of the way. He could not recall ever climbing those staircases, but he used the time to think of the exact words he should say to her. He could start by saying Molly was being silly. Perhaps mention Sirius had forced him into it. He would not be lying. _Molly will be baking a cake tonight. No. Molly's going to cook dinner tonight at the Headquarters. She asked me to invite you. I want to __– __Sirius wants __– They want_ _to celebrate my birthday. No. Not even close to one of your knees-up. No. I told them not to bother. No. It's nothing really just a usual dinner. Kreacher won't be cooking so I suppose it's not the usual dinner. No. It's one of Molly's usual dinners. No._ Should he tell her it was his birthday at all? She would never know if he didn't tell her, would she? He knew he wanted her to know.

Too soon he had reached the fifth floor and spotted the maroon door at his right. Silently, he approached and took in a deep breath as if to give himself the courage to do so before knocking. The seconds passed, but no answer came. He knocked again and waited to see if any noise came from across the door, but all he could hear was the silence. He knocked one more time and called, 'Dora?' As once again, Remus received no answer, he let his head fall waiting a second to take a step back. All the preparations had been in vain.

'Maybe she's not home,' spoke a breathless voice behind him.

Taken aback, he turned around to see a young woman catching her breath and trying to smile at him. She had a straight, bubble-gum pink hair tied in a ponytail that ended around the middle of her back. Her fringe was glued to her forehead by sweat. She was wearing a plain, white T-shirt, bright orange shorts, scarlet trainers and socks going almost half-way to her shin. Strong legs indeed. All the vivid colours in her attire defied combination and would drive any fashion designer insane, but somehow they fitted her perfectly. She had leant her shoulder against the wall and had crossed her arms over her chest. Remus suspected that the way her heart-shaped face shone to him was not at all related to the sheen of sweat that covered her skin, but to the maddening way she was chewing on her bottom lip.

All the doubts Sirius had planted in his mind the previous night were gone at the sight of her baby blue eyes.

What he felt for her was not friendship. Not anymore.

And he had never felt anything remotely close to what he felt at that moment for another woman.

'Wotcher,' she said eventually.

'Oh, um, Tonks.' He rubbed the back of his neck disconcertedly. 'Hi.'

'I'd much rather Dora,' she remarked.

'Right,' he breathed, 'Dora.'

'Sorry, I just had to enjoy a run,' she explained. 'First beautiful day in yonks.'

'Yeah ... I, ah, didn't know you run,' he commented, regretting the words almost instantaneously. _Such a stupid __– Completely stupid thing to say._ Was he really supposed to feel like a teenager in front of a pretty girl?

'Many things you don't know about me, Lupin,' she grinned and Remus tried to return the smile, but he was sure all he managed was an awkward grimace.

She passed by him, nearing the door.

'Listen, I've got to take a quick shower and go to work,' she told him. 'But do you want to come in? I could make you a cuppa.'

'Oh! No! Thanks, but I ...' Why was he so nervous? He pocketed his right hand, trying to calm himself. 'Quite silly to be honest, just ...' He swallowed hard, looking around before focusing on her again. 'Molly insisted on baking a cake. Si – Padfoot says he'd try to find some albums of T-The Weird Sisters to play some good music to, um, change a bit from that Celestina Molly loves. It's not much. At least I hope it's not much, but if you could ... you know ... go.'

'Um ...' Tonks looked at her fingers raising one to each item on the following list. 'Good food and good music. I'll be there,' she promised.

'Great,' he said relieved.

'Headquarters, isn't it? And dinner, not lunch, right?' she asked drawing out her wand. _How did she hide it in her clothes? _

'Yes.' Remus nodded a few times. 'Yes.'

'Brilliant!' Tonks opened the door, but kept her back to it still looking at him and grinned. 'Present now or present later?'

Remus blinked, staring at her face. He did not remember telling her earlier and tried to recall exactly what he had said to her a couple of minutes before. Part of him beamed with pride that she knew even though he had not reminded her.

'Thought I had forgotten, didn't you, birthday boy?'

Tonks winked at him and he felt his heart skip a beat. She stepped back entering her flat, but her ankle tripped on the threshold and she found herself falling backwards the next instant. Remus rushed forwards and grabbed both her hands pulling her to an upright position. They stood hand in hand, breaths coming in small pants, eyes looking deeply into the other's and hearts beating strongly in their chests. Too close for comfort, but at the same time unable to move away as though their bodies were opposite magnetic poles, being pulled together by a powerful force beyond either of their control. Seconds might as well have been hours for their breathing had already returned to normal when the idea of answering a question long ago asked went through Remus's mind.

'Been a very long time since I last got a birthday present, s'all.'

'In that c-case,' Tonks stuttered, clearing her throat, 'can I have the honour of being the first?' She smiled tentatively.

'Sure.'

Remus released his grip from her forearms and hesitantly, she stepped away from him. He made an effort not to follow her with his eyes, staring at his shoes instead and making no movement. So he did not see her going to her desk and getting a hold of an envelope she had put there previously. He did not see her curse herself for not inviting him to sit or to offer him a cup of tea one more time or just being a decent host in general.

'Here.'

Tonks handed him the item and he opened it. Inside the envelope there was a folded piece of parchment that read:

_Here's hoping the Order or the Auror Office doesn't stop us. Making plans a week beforehand has become quite risky these days, but it's worth a shot._

_The third step of your long way to go._

He saw a white piece of paper inside the folded parchment and got it in his hand.

Appleby Arrows vs. Montrose Magpies  
>17 March 1996<br>Ilkley Moor Quidditch Stadium  
>Black Zone | Block 223 | Seat 256<p>

There was an empty space underneath it where he figured the ticket's price must have been before Tonks magically concealed it. Remus looked at her and saw that with her arms folded in her front, she held an identical ticket between her index and middle fingers.

'You in?'

'Of course,' Remus assured her.

'Wonderful!'

She grabbed his face and pulled his head towards her, placing her lips fiercely on his cheek.

'There! You also got a sweaty kiss. Happy birthday, Remus! I do hope you have a wonderful day. Now I really need to take that shower,' she reminded him after checking her watch. 'The kettle's –'

'No, I'm leaving, Dora,' he told her and stepped outside before raising the ticket in his hand. 'Thank you. I'll see you tonight.'

'Cheers!'

Tonks waited until she heard his footsteps going down the stairs to search for a spare piece of parchment and scribbled a note to Molly.

_If it's not too much to ask could you please bake this cake for tonight? It's just something we did together some time back and I'm sure he'd appreciate. I'd come and help you, but I've got to work like I told you on Thursday. Please?_

_Tonks_

_P.S: Thanks, Molly! You're the best!_

She summoned her mother's recipe for the Tonkses' cake and waved her wand to scribble out the 'strawberries'. She reached for her quill and wrote 'cherries' on top of them before attaching both to Penates's leg and finally heading for the toilet.

* * *

><p>Remus was surprised by Sirius throwing himself on him as he entered the Grimmauld Place. Cautiously, he returned what he realised it was supposed to be a bear-hug.<p>

'Happy birthday, Moony!' he yelled having released him.

'Thanks, Pads.'

'Look,' Sirius got a parcel from a nearby table, 'got this for you. And don't you forget: _I_ was the first.'

'Thanks,' he repeated unsure of what he should say. 'You didn't have to.'

'Belt up and open it!' he grinned.

After the piano he had received on Christmas, Remus was relieved to see that this gift was a regular book. In unwrapping, he read the title on the front, Epeolotry, and then on the first page, Epeolotry (n); the worship of words.

'It's basically a dictionary of difficult words,' explained Sirius. 'Thought you'd like. I mean, even I found it interesting.'

'Let's see ...' Remus went to the first page with actual meanings and read, 'Abligurition, noun, prodigal expense for food.' Something he would never do. Then, he opened it around the middle and read a random word. 'Mundivagant, adjective; wandering over hills and mountains.' He opened a third page near the end. 'Titillation, noun; the act of tickling or stimulating with touch.'

At that last word, Sirius's eyebrows rose nearly disappearing under his shaggy hair and he opened a wild smirk.

'You were at Tonks's, yeah?' he asked, but did not wait for an answer. 'How did it go?'

Remus shrugged.

'Not out of the ordinary,' he lied. 'She says she'll be here.'

'Because of you, eh?'

'It's my birthday, Padfoot!' he alleged. 'It's _clearly_ because of me.'

'All right ...'

Remus spent nearly the rest of the day in his room, avoiding unnecessary time with his best friend and flipping through his new book to keep himself from thinking of her. However, every now and again, his plan backfired for a word would send his mind straight to her (basorexia, noun; an overwhelming urge to kiss someone).

James and Lily? Sirius had to be gone barking mad. It did not make any sense. No sense at all. James and Lily completed each other, they brought up the best in each other. Remus had never seen James happier than when he was with Lily. And Lily as well, had never been happier than when James was by her side. They had had Harry, Lily's soul in James's body. He could not deny that he liked her any longer, but to compare him and Nymphadora to James and Lily, honestly ..._ Nice one, Padfoot!_ He shook his head in amusement.

James ... who would be celebrating his birthday exactly seventeen days after his if Voldemort had not – He sighed. Great way to celebrate a birthday.

Eventually, Molly arrived and sent Arthur to 'drag him downstairs if need be.' He went willingly and Sirius put The Weird Sisters albums he had promised.

As if hearing the song, Tonks arrived shortly after.

'HA! What did you get him?' demanded Sirius before she had even stepped inside.

She blinked, staring at her cousin, but soon caught a glimpse of Remus behind him mouthing, _Nothing!_ and shaking his head, telling her to not worry about it.

'Nothing,' she said.

'Pathetic!'

'All right.' She walked past Sirius and wrapped her arms around Remus's neck briefly before placing a small kiss on his cheek. 'A hug and a kiss. Better?'

Sirius exhaled heavily, rolling his eyes before leaving.

'What was that all about?' she asked as they made their way to the kitchen.

'He's been too happy since I got here this morning and I didn't want to ruin it,' he admitted fetching two bottles of Butterbeers for them. 'Let him believe it,' he asked.

'Fine by me,' said Tonks sipping on her bottle and grinning at Bill across the table playing Exploding Snap with Mundungus.

Nobody bothered with Mrs Black's portrait. With the loud music, silencing her would only last for a second. But Sirius had thought of a smooth way out: keep the music louder than her. Perks of living in an Unplottable house, no one could hear you.

Molly served the roast beef with potatoes at seven, incredibly tasty just like everything else Tonks had tried. The Weasley glanced at her and the Auror made a silent enquiry about her earlier request and Molly gave her a nod, smiling. Tonks was just mouthing 'Thanks,' when Remus, sitting at her right, looked at her.

'What?'

'Nothing,' she promptly dismissed him and returned to her food.

Remus furrowed his brows, thinking for a few seconds, but did the same. The continuous glances Molly kept shooting at him after that left him slightly uncomfortable. Perhaps she was looking at the desperate way Sirius had been eating his food. Who was he kidding? He had never been used to people paying a lot of attention to him, especially when he was doing naught to get it. Thus his humour did not get better when, as soon as the empty plates were gone, Molly brought the cake with bloody _candles _on it!

He told her he didn't want candles, didn't he? Didn't he? Brilliant. He had forgotten. He had had a good reason to forget about the silly candles on the cake though, argued a bit of his own brain.

When the only lights that illuminated the kitchen were the trembling flames on the candles, Remus allowed himself one second to look dreary. Was it 1980? The last time a group of people had gathered around to celebrate with him. He didn't get the need to celebrate another year gone. Another twelve transformations done. Who knew how many more were there yet to come.

'Make a wish,' murmured Tonks beside him when the song had finished and the sound of clapping hands had died.

He gazed at her, smiled faintly and looked back to the candles before blowing them. Maybe, just maybe ...

Hands clapped once more as Molly got the cake and started cutting the pieces. She handed him the first piece and he slid it a few more inches towards Tonks. The Weasley stopped for a second looking at them before resuming her task.

'Thank you,' mumbled Tonks.

'Don't mention it,' he replied sliding a second piece to Sirius, on his right.

Remus only stopped to eat his piece when the other six already had full plates in front of them. Tonks waved her wand to the stereo so The Weird Sisters resumed singing and she hummed along with a mouth full of cake. Albums he had no idea that were in fact hers for Padfoot had owled his cousin on that afternoon, asking for that favour.

He wondered how someone could not like her in that way.

'Stuffed,' declared Bill pushing his half-eaten piece of cake away. 'Absolutely stuffed.'

Tonks summoned his plate and filled her fork with a nibble of his cake.

'This cake doesn't require hunger,' she stated pointing at him with the fork full of cake before shoving it in her mouth.

Remus laughed along with everyone else in the table. He wished he could thank her. He wished she would understand just how much it meant for him to have her by his side. He wished she knew she was by far the main reason for the very best birthday he had had in sixteen years.


	38. 37 Appleby Arrows vs Montrose Magpies

**A/N: **Oh my god! It's been so long, yes, I know, I apologise. I didn't mean to take so long to finish this chapter, but my life got a hold of me and I've had several other things to do. Hopefully though, I'll be able to write more often. I loved writing this. Writing Quidditch is always fun and JK Rowling's Quidditch World Cup on Pottermore definitely inspired me (though I started this chapter back in March when I finished the other one ^^). Which of you loved to hear about Teddy? Seriously, let me know, I wanna hear all about you guys thought. ^^ Thanks for all the reviews and messages I got asking to keep the story going, you guys kept _me_ going when I was tired. All of them met a lot, I mean it. Don't hesitate to message me if you guys have anything to say, I'm a fangirl, honestly. xD Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it and please review!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 37: Appleby Arrows vs. Montrose Magpies<strong>

The sound of her alarm clock made Tonks open her eyes, but she closed them shut the next second. She forced herself to sit on the bed and saw that the book that had been underneath her cheek held a stain of dribble. She had slept whilst reading. Again. Though she figured it could not be considered exactly a bad thing as it was the second time she was reading that one. Was it the fourth time she had slept on top of that book? She wasn't sure. But she was certain that Hairy Snout, Human Heart had just won the title of her favourite book.

Over the course of the previous week, Tonks understood what drives book lovers to read compulsively for hours upon hours. She had finally comprehended why one would lose hours of sleep, the need to learn what would happen next at that moment. She had found fascinating to read every moments of his life from the perspective of a werewolf. It was almost as though she had a window to Remus's mind; being allowed to share a bit of his soul. From the description of the moment he had been bitten through all the moodiness until the following full moon. She could not help but to wonder how much Remus's life was alike to what was written in there, she figured most of it must have been quite the same. Though the differences were what left her even more curious. How had he been bitten? What had happened? How old was he? Did he suffer from the same anger as the full moon neared? Was it hard to control? How else it affected him? Was there something she could do to help him? There must be _something_ she could do other than healing his wounds on the following morning. The author never mentioned anyone else in his life though.

Tonks sighed and stood up. Remus would be the first one on that matter. The first she knew of. Her first. She tripped on The Quibbler that had been on the floor and picked it up. The Harry on the magazine's cover was serious and she quite enjoyed how professional it had been; Voldemort's return did not require a smiling Harry. If only he had been able to find a more trustworthy source to get his story printed ... But then again, the Minister for Magic assured that all reliable sources would only print whatever he wanted.

Saturday mornings, Tonks decided, were not meant for Order meetings. Especially not when she had been out with the guys from the Office the night before and she and Kingsley happen to receive owls at exactly the same time inside of the bar, forcing them to come up with completely different excuses and hope everyone would take it as a far-fetched coincidence.

She arrived at the Headquarters at five past eight. Dumbledore was already there the meeting was about to start. Waving happily at Remus and Sirius across the table, she sat on one of the mismatched chairs.

'First of all I would like to welcome my dear friend Sturgis Podmore who has just returned from Azkaban where he spent six months after providing an essential service to the Order.' They all turned around to face him. Sturgis was thinner and paler than he had been on the previous year. He looked tired and grim, but still happy to be out of the Dementors' reach. 'Thank you, Sturgis, we are all very grateful.' Dumbledore clapped and so did the other members. 'I apologise for taking you all from your bed this morning,' added the Headmaster and Tonks smiled as his twinkling eyes looked at her, 'but I'm sure you all have seen Harry's interview for The Quibbler.' All the members nodded and he proceeded, 'Although I am unsure as to whether I would have taken the same decision, I cannot consider his action as ill intentioned. Naturally, he was assaulted by several owls of readers with opinions going from one side of the spectral to the other.'

'WHAT?' shouted Sirius.

'No bigger harm was done,' Dumbledore stated quickly, 'except a week's worth detention, being prohibited to go the Hogsmeade village and a few points being deducted from Gryffindor.'

Tonks could have sworn she heard Professor McGonagall beside her mutter, 'Fifty points _are not_ a few.'

'All that has the authorship of our lovely Professor Umbridge of course,' added Dumbledore. 'Also we now have the Educational Degree number twenty-seven, which expels any student that happens to be found carrying the magazine.'

The Headmaster smiled wide. Remus had had far too much experience with forbidden items within Hogwarts to be sure that prohibiting the students from reading The Quibbler was the one thing Dolores Umbridge could have done to stimulate the students even more to read the magazine.

'The curiosity in this is that I happened to overhear several students quoting the interview around the corridors and I have to admit most of them seemed to have changed sides. I just hope the number of students at Hogwarts doesn't suffer a considerable reduction on the forthcoming week.'

Remus smiled fondly at the sound of Tonks's light laughter.

'Therefore, I suppose that we can try to convince a few more people using that copy of The Quibbler. Anyone that has expressed the slightest indication that they might believe Voldemort has returned should be approached. Be careful though, the Ministry's walls have the callous habit of reporting nearly every secret directly to Cornelius.'

Dumbledore moved on to collecting the member's reports on the previous week's watches and established the following week's one. Monday and Thursday seemed to have become unofficially Remus and Tonks's nights at the Hall of the Prophecy. Soon the Headmaster had ended the meeting and the members started to slowly leave the kitchen.

'Professor, I could use an expert's opinion,' Tonks said turning to McGonagall.

'Yes, Nymphadora?' she replied, sitting more upright on her chair.

Tonks made a face at her name, but decided to not give too much thought into it and moved on.

'I need — Well, not exactly for me, but I'm — Remus, come here!' She gestured for him to approach as he had stood up. 'Remus could use some advice. I'm taking him to see the Magpies tomorrow. First time ever he'll see a professional match.'

Tonks grinned and Remus could see she was rather proud of that little announcement.

'Is that so, Remus?' asked Minerva, her face lighting up just as much as when Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup back at Hogwarts.

'I'm afraid so.'

'Oh, don't be afraid!' she exclaimed. 'Well, I suppose what I can tell you is, um, bring some food.'

'Butties! Almost forgot them!' Tonks slammed her own forehead.

'You see, the pitch is much larger than the one at Hogwarts so it can last for a few days,' McGonagall brought forth.

'I gotta work Monday at nine so that's our deadline,' Tonks pointed out not looking entirely happy.

'I'm not sure how the weather will be, but I recommend more comfortable robes either way,' resumed McGonagall. 'Be sure not to wear pale blue, but black and white would be better of course.'

'Not gonna make you dye your hair, though,' assured Dora.

'Ms Tonks! Do you want Remus to have _my_ help or not?' Minerva demanded.

'... Sorry, Professor,' she apologised and was suddenly reminded from the days she was a student about to receive another detention. The Magpies that long had got her out of the worse punishments, seemed to be now putting her into it.

'If Dolores wasn't about to destroy the reputation Hogwarts always had, I would accompany you.' She eyed Remus with what he thought to be an apologetic gaze and looked back to Tonks. 'To be sure Nymphadora would keep you well informed.'

'I'm sure the students need you far more than I ever would, Minerva,' indicated Remus, felling incredibly relieved the Professor would not be able to attend the match.

'Yes, yes, they do.' McGonagall nodded. 'Some other time perhaps.'

'Some other time,' agreed Remus standing on his feet and offering his hand for her to shake and the Professor shook it before leaving with the shortest of glares to Tonks. He then looked at the Auror with an amused smile and a tilt of his head to the elder woman who had just crossed the door.

'I'll stop here at ... eight thirty?' she suggested checking her watch. 'We will need to stay in the queue, be inspected and find our seats ...'

'Eight thirty it is,' he confirmed.

'See you tomorrow then.'

'I'll prepare the sandwiches,' he proposed and she grinned.

'Then I'll bring the drinks.'

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><p>On the following morning Remus dressed the simple, black robe he had spent the afternoon searching for and then neatly mending its rips. He got the basket filled with sandwiches he had prepared the day before and waited for the knock he had been expecting. Soon Tonks arrived and he went to meet her at the hall.<p>

'Nice!' she grinned after having seen his black robe with the pin she had gifted him on it and swirled for him to appreciate her.

It was almost as though she was about to play for the Montrose Magpies instead of simply watching them. She was wearing the team's robe a white one that grew progressively darker to the point her sleeves as well as the lower bit of the robe were jet black. It was emblazoned with a big Magpie on the front, an even bigger one on the black and a pin identical to the one she had given to him had been attached near her front. Her morphed hair to various tufts of black and white was the final touch to the obsessed fan before him. It was a distinguished feeling to be able to gaze at her freely without any fear of what someone would think of him.

'Impressive,' remarked Remus.

'Thanks. You ready?'

He nodded.

'Got everything? Food?'

Remus flicked his wand, levitated the basket he had left on the corner and brought it to them.

'Drinks? Oh that's me.' She tapped an odd-looking pocket of her robes before adding, 'So, um, ticket?'

'Forgot the ticket,' he admitted and zoomed to the stairs to the sound of her giggles. Half a minute later he had returned. 'Ticket.' He nodded briefly.

'All right, let's go!' Tonks grinned and offered her hand for him, which he took and allowed her to guide him in the darkness of Apparition.

The following second they had appeared at an open land. Remus saw hills behind hills until they intermingled with the cloudy sky. The greenery enthralled his view, punctuated by a few rocks and a selected group of garnet flowers. He felt incredibly small, as though all the forces in the world could surround and end him in a matter of seconds. It reminded him of his childhood, when he was just a little boy at his parents' house, when his innocence had yet to be shattered by the views of society on what he really was. Nothing else seemed to matter but the man within.

'So, what do you think?' he heard Tonks ask.

'Beautiful,' he breathed. 'Very beautiful.'

Tonks snorted and Remus turned to look at her, his brows somewhat furrowed.

'Not that view! _This_ view!' She opened her arms indicating the massive stadium behind them.

It grew several yards above them with numerous pillars sustaining the structure and the name Ilkley Moor Quidditch Stadium shone and seemed to dance as the wind passed by it as though it was a flag. Remus was reminded of all the temples to Greek and Roman gods he had seen in encyclopaedias; huge constructions to worship a deity. Although in this case, it was a sport. Just like the biggest Wizarding creations, it had been built in the middle of nowhere, with the nature as its only surrounding; certainly disturbing the wild life, but at least keeping the Muggles safe.

'Breath-taking,' he said, hoping she would find it suitable.

'_Isn't it?_' she grinned, her eyes twinkling in excitement more than he had ever seen. 'Come on!' she called, pulling his sleeve and heading to where Remus supposed the entrance of the stadium was.

They entered a long queue of wizards and witches wearing black and white. Remus observed them, hoping he was convincing enough to let everyone believe that going to Quidditch stadiums was one of his monthly activities instead of becoming a vicious creature. He watched as they conversed in hushed, enthusiastic tones, mentioning names he recalled hearing at the WWN, but could barely tell who played for the Magpies and who did not. Maddock? That one played for the Magpies … didn't he? Or was it Marlock?

Before presenting their tickets at the entrance, they had to be inspected to make sure the only dangerous item they were carrying was their wands. Remus did not completely understand the meaning of it, if a wizard wanted something they had not been carrying all they would need was the wand, but he supposed the inspection made the guards feel somewhat better after being sure that none of them was porting a Dark Arts' object.

The horde of hasty fans hampered for them to find the Black Zone and thus their seats. They needed a couple of guards and several signs to finally find their way. Precisely three minutes before nine, they found seats 256 and 257. Remus noticed a large billboard advertising the newest potion for hair growth before they stowed their lunch near their seats and Tonks checked her wristwatch.

'Any minute now ...' She looked outside the stadium as though searching for something. A little while later she was pointing vigorously to the air. 'AHA!'

Remus turned around and saw seven white blurs coming towards the centre of the pitch. He watched as the players formed the shape of a bird he supposed resembled a magpie as another seven pale blue blurs imitated an arrow.

'All right, so ...' Tonks neared Remus, raising her voice above the crowd's noises, 'number one is Luke Bradley, our Keeper. Two, three and four are for Chasers, Alasdair Maddock, Emily Johnson and Hamish MacFarlan, who is also our captain. Five is Connor Meadows and six, Chloe Roberts, those are Beaters. And number seven, Lennox Campbell, our Seeker, not very bright, we've had better ones. His brother, Angus, is the manager so some people say that's why he got in.'

The players were now forming a circle in the middle of the pitch with the referee in the centre. The wizard made both team captains shake each other's hands before reaching for the trunk where the balls were. He opened its lid allowing not only the Bludgers to fly away but also the tiny Golden Snitch before reaching for the Quaffle. The referee mounted on his broom, kicked the ground with his feet and threw the last ball in the air, officially starting the game. Remus watched one Chaser from each team dive in for the ball and the woman in blue catch it. Soon there was a well synchronised ballet of blue and white dancers, each trying to either be where they knew their teammate would need them to be or predict the adversary's moves. He had been too absorbed in the way they moved to notice that a goal had been scored and only realised that when the crowd cheered and the narrator began to shout before a few players of the Appleby Arrows performed some acrobatics upon their broomsticks.

Remus heard a disappointed moan coming from Tonks beside him and offered the Auror an apologetic smile. She shrugged and returned the smile.

'We'll be on the lead in no time. You'll see,' she assured him.

'Johnson's got the Quaffle, she passes it to MacFarlan — back to Johnson — Maddock — Maddock's approaching the goalposts — _Maddock's gonna _— **Pruitt stops him!** She throws the Quaffle to Walker. Walker dodges a Bludger from Meadows, he passes it to Tierney. Tierney to Brewer. Brewer throws it back to Tierney — back to Walker — but MacFarlan got the Quaffle from him! MacFarlan is heading back to the goalposts, he passes to Maddock — Johnson — Good Merlin! That was a close one! Roberts arrived just in time, ladies and gentlemen.'

Remus was beginning to wonder if the narrator ever paused for a glass of water, but the man seemed unstoppable. Nothing like the humorous commentators Hogwarts seemed to have. But that was professional Quidditch. There were no Chasers stopping to watch when the Seekers suddenly dove towards the Golden Snitch. That was what he supposed the matches of the Quidditch World Cup almost a year ago looked like since Remus had only heard them via the wireless.

'Roberts stopped that Bludger, but Johnson lost the Quaffle. Walker's got it — Brewer — Walker — Tierney — back to Brewer — Oooh! Maddock's gonna need to be faster to get that Quaffle from her. Brewer to Walker — **No!** _MacFarlan got it!_ A _neat_ pass to Maddock — Maddock to Johnson across the pitch aaaand it's in!'

Tonks jumped on her feet, screaming in happiness. Although a smile had spread itself upon Remus's lips, he was still surprised with the sudden movement.

'**The Magpies score!**' shouted the narrator and Tonks sat back on her seat grinning at Remus. 'Ten and ten.'

The Magpies chasers seemed to have found a way to stop the Arrows defence and soon they were on the lead by forty to ten. Remus watched in awe as Tonks could not stop grinning.

'D'you think she'll ever like me?' Tonks asked after a few minutes. 'McGonagall, I mean.'

'I'm positive she does,' Remus confided.

Tonks snorted.

'You don't know how much trouble I put her through.'

'Couldn't have been more than four young wizards I used to know,' Remus mused.

'Point is those four _Gryffindors_ were her responsibility and I wasn't,' she reminded him. 'I was the Hufflepuff she had to punish because Professor Sprout had neither the experience nor the patience to deal with that kind of troublemakers,' she finished tilting her head to either side at each of her last words.

'She was the deputy headmistress either way,' he pointed out. 'She'd have to deal with your rule-breaking one way or another. At least she had Professor Sprout to help her a bit in your case. We couldn't be sent to another professor.'

'True,' Tonks realised. 'I lost loads of points by her hands, both of them actually. Still I'm sure I did Hufflepuff more good than bad in the end. ... What about you? D'you reckon you lost more points than you won?'

Remus furrowed his brows somewhat, moving his eyes from her to the match, not focusing on the players themselves, but somewhere in the treasured memories of his past. He placed his left ankle on top of his right knee and leant his back on the seat before looking back to Dora.

'Yeah, I think so,' he answered. 'James and Sirius were brilliant then, amazing with Charms. Flitwick loved to have us in his class. Peter didn't make it easy for the points we got, but he always had our help, we were always there for him. And I worked hard, always had a book on me, it wasn't easy to keep up with school when you spent a week every month feeling knackered.'

Tonks snorted at his comment. Remus had understood what she meant all backwards and though probably wrongly, she corrected him, 'I meant you by yourself, not the whole lot of the Marauders!' she laughed.

Remus frowned heavily then.

'Oh ...'

He had never stopped to think about himself whilst at Hogwarts, it had always been them. Even Peter. Peter had been part of them back then. Things were never the same if Wormtail was missing, he recalled. He wasn't just Remus. He was part of the Marauders.

'Probably, I think so.' He nodded, though still frowning. 'We used to count the score as a group, never really thought about it as 'I won' or 'I lost', it was always _us_.'

He then offered her a warm smile that sent her heart beating crazily inside her chest and she couldn't help but to smile back. Tonks had always known the Marauders meant to Remus much more than the usual friendship teenagers had during Hogwarts, but after that it seemed she was only now starting to fathom how much.

The first sight of the Golden Snitch only happened an hour after the start of the match, when the score was a hundred to sixty with the Magpies on the lead. Remus had been watching a Chaser pass the Quaffle to another of his teammates when the whole crowd stood on their feet, eyes looking at the two players who were now diving directly towards the ground. An abrupt U-turn and both of them were circling the pitch, but the Golden Snitch seemed to be outrunning them.

'AND THAT'S ANOTHER TEN POINTS FOR THE ARROWS!' they heard the narrator shout as Brewer did a few loops on her broom barely escaping the Bludger Meadows sent on the Seekers direction, but it did not hit its target. 'Johnson with the Quaffle, she passes it to Maddock — Looks like the Snitch is trying to become a Quaffle, my friend! Campbell and Koenig are between the Chasers right in the middle of the pitch — Maddock still has the Quaffle — **Wow!** Did someone forget to tell me that Campbell's changed sides? Trying to catch the Snitch, he hit Maddock's Nimbus and he's lost the Quaffle in the mess — Aaaand the Snitch disappeared again — O-oh my! The Magpies are arguing in the pitch. That doesn't look good to the birds — Tierney's heading to the goalposts — passes it to Walker — Nice interception from Bradley! Saving the Magpies one more time ...'

Maddock and Campbell's misunderstanding was soon forgotten by the need to defend. Eventually it was already lunch time and Tonks pulled the basket from under their seats with a satisfied grin, passing him a sandwich before taking a bite of another. Remus got the sandwich and reached for a bottle of Butterbeer, taking off the stopper before sipping on it. Her reactions were a show apart from the one happening on the pitch. Remus had to stop himself from laughing when Roberts nearly knocked Walker from his broomstick and Tonks promptly stood on her feet yelling at them, swearing that it was not a foul.

The scoreboard already showed two hundred and ten to the Montrose Magpies and one hundred and sixty to the Appleby Arrows when once again, Seekers Campbell and Koenig were flying close to each other and trying to get closer to the tiny ball.

'The Snitch seems to want to circle the pitch, my friend. Koenig and Campbell are getting closer — They're approaching the goalposts — Is that —? THE ARROWS SCORE! Bradley was distracted by the Seekers behind him — Amazing! They're lying on their handles! Two hundred and ten to one hundred and seventy! Hands in the air — CLOSE Bludger from Ingram! HE CAUGHT! CAMPBELL HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! THE MAGPIES WIN!'

Remus was not quite sure what he was expecting from the crowd when the match finally ended, but the thunderous exclamation still surprised him. They were all standing on their feet celebration yet another victory of the Scottish team and Tonks was no different. Except her hair had become the brightest shade of pink. He stood up and clapped along; both teams had played beautifully.

'BRILLIANT! BRILLIANT! Did you see that? Did you see that catch?' Tonks could not take the grin out of her lips.

'I did, yes.' Remus nodded. 'Great. Still not very bright in your book?'

She narrowed her eyes at him, but kept the smile.

'Yeah, always knew he was capable of a few great moves. Wouldn't be with us if that was the case. We'll need someone better if we are to beat the Tornadoes,' she explained.

Remus nodded again and they watched for a few minutes as the Arrows players went to complain with the referee. No one knew for sure what they wanted; Remus had not caught any potential foul during the final minutes. Meanwhile, the Magpies bowed for their fans and received yet another round of plaudit, any sign of the misunderstanding between the Chaser and the Seeker gone. Lennox Campbell was letting the Snitch in his hand fly a few inches before catching it again as though to prove his ability while Meadows and Roberts beat their bats together. A couple of seconds later, Campbell had to dash downwards to catch the golden ball that had nearly escaped out of his control; he then offered the crowd a smug smile. Campbell did not let the Snitch go anymore, however.

It took them a while to get past the long queue of wizards and witches trying to leave the stadium, but eventually they found themselves outside and took a moment to appreciate the nature before them. Tonks smiled.

'It is a beautiful view indeed,' she admitted.

Remus smiled back, he would not have used beautiful as the word to describe that scenery as it did not seem enough, but he chose not to contradict her. He did not want to be the one to take away that smile from her lips.

'Thank you for the ticket once more,' he said though he was sure she had enjoyed herself watching the match far more than he did.

'It's nothing!' She waved a hand at him. 'Was this _really_ your first time? Watching the League, I mean.'

'Yes, yes.' Remus nodded, pocketing his hands. 'Nothing like the ones at Hogwarts.'

'Most of them began playing at Hogwarts though,' Tonks pointed out. 'Great way to start ... or to realise you're not destined to become a Quidditch player!'

Remus laughed with her.

'You're right. Sirius's case. Too much temper for that bat,' he brought forth.

Surprised, Tonks stared at him.

'Didn't know he played.'

'Oh, yes,' Remus answered. 'To be honest, I suspect it was a way to spend more time with James. Sirius didn't quite fancy having to share him with Quidditch.' He let out a throaty chuckle.

'Bet he didn't,' she smiled. 'Next meeting's on Tuesday, right?'

Remus nodded his answer.

'Our shift is on Monday though.'

'Right, yeah.' Tonks's eyebrows rose.

'See you then?' he asked offering his hand to shake.

'Course!' Tonks shook his hand. 'Glad you liked your present.'

'How could I not?' he questioned though he was sure that if she had not been with him, he would have found it quite boring.

'Cheers!'

And she had Disapparated. Remus sighed, divided by the sadness of seeing her go and the happiness of spending the day with her.

* * *

><p>Remus would never bring it forth himself, but had not read the article regarding Harry's interview on The Quibbler due to the simple fact that he did not think it was wise to spend the few gold he had on a magazine, especially when he already knew the gist of what had happened to the boy at the graveyard. A bit of him thought the main reason for him to wish to read it was to talk with <em>her<em> about it. Remus would not fulfil his desire to talk with Tonks about the magazine until later on that Monday night at the Hall of the Prophecy when she shoved Harry's face on his and he was oddly reminded of Lily facing him with equal determination.

'Have you read this?' she demanded.

'Um, no,' he answered trying to hide a smile. She looked cute serious like that. 'No, I haven't.'

'Bought it last week,' she told him even though he had not questioned her. 'He told 'em _everything_. Seriously, **everything**. Bet none of us had heard about that night ... detailed like that. Have you?'

'No,' he replied again for, despite having not read the article yet, he was sure it was much more detailed than everything he had heard Albus say about the night Voldemort returned.

'Take a look,' she offered handing him The Quibbler. 'You're a fast reader, bet you can read all the ten pages before I return from my patrol,' she grinned at him as though she had just proposed a challenge and, wand in hand, she evaded to the door she had come from.

'I'll give it my best,' Remus said smiling back at her and lighting his wand.

Tonks strode to the door and all around the room, making sure to check every row before coming back to him. She had intended to let him read everything before making a comment, but the sight of him concentrated and leaving every bit of the world away from him was too much for her and she dragged herself to be closer to him. At first, she simply grinned to him, but before Remus had finished the initial page, she was pointing to Harry's first answer — how Voldemort's first act was to use Wormtail's mark to call the Death Eaters to the graveyard.

'Must've been terrifying for him ... even if Harry has done it before,' she commented.

'I don't think you ever grow accustomed to be in his presence,' said Remus.

'Did you see this here?' she asked pointing to an answer further in the article that he had not read. 'Maybe Skeeter can write well, but I bet hearing Harry talk about everyone coming back to him was almost like being there.'

'Almost ... I wish Harry didn't have to witness that. He's got so much to deal with already.'

Tonks nodded and for a few seconds she began to hit her thigh with her fingers; certainly in the rhythm of a song playing in her head. Remus used these seconds to keep reading as she tried to distract herself. A couple of minutes later, however, she wanted once more to talk about a bit of the article. In all honesty, Remus would rather read the magazine in the quietude of his room, but he couldn't help smiling fondly at her every time she spoke and remind himself of a word he had read in the Epeolotry: comely, an adjective that describes a woman who is very lovely or attractive. Right then he decided it could also be used to describe a very lovely _and_ attractive woman thus it was perfect for the young woman beside him. Remus wondered how he had been able to tell himself that he did not like her the way he did. Part of him felt relieved that he had finally admitted his feelings for her. Now, in his core, he could enjoy her presence quietly and rejoice every smile she shot towards him.

When he finally managed to finish reading the article with Tonks interrupting every minute, they discussed the implications of its publication throughout the night, stopping only when it was time for either of them to patrol the room. Little did he know that she only brought the magazine so they would have an excuse to talk about it.

On the following night, they found themselves back at the kitchen of the Grimmauld Place for yet another Order meeting and Dumbledore had discussed one more time so open interviews and how it had managed to convince a lot of people to their cause, especially students at Hogwarts — pity they could not fight for the Order of the Phoenix yet.

'However, some still refuse to see reason, most of them believed Harry's words transcribed by Ms Skeeter. I think it is wise to speculate that, in time, the same will happen to the Wizarding community and Cornelius's version of the incident involving Cedric Diggory last year will fall apart. Now who were watching the Prophecy this week, please? Reports.'

The few members who had kept guard at the Hall of the Prophecy — Remus and Tonks amongst them — reported what happened during their shifts and the responsible ones for watching the Prophecy every night for the following week were decided.

'I have seen Mr Malfoy more and more at the Ministry,' Elphias told them, 'always with the Minister. Last I heard he planned on giving St. Mungo's another significant contribution.'

'Yes, Elphias, my friend, thank you,' said Dumbledore looking at him above his glasses. 'I have thought about it and I believe we ought to guard the Malfoy Manor. It has been undoubtedly their headquarters and keeping track of their activity is essential.' The Order nodded in response to the headmaster's words and he continued, 'Do I have volunteers for this week's watch?'

Several hands rose up in the air. Remus slowly cast his eyes to Sirius not far from and noticed that a muscle seemed to have tightened in his friend's jaw.

'Let it be said that we did this before Dumbledore asked us to,' Tonks whispered to Remus referring to the nights they had spent months ago by the Malfoy Manor, the only difference being that now they would have the whole Order of the Phoenix to help them. She had a faint smug smile on her lips.

'To be fair, it was quite obvious that he would ask us to watch the Death Eaters' headquarters eventually,' he whispered back.

'Give yourself some credit, Remus! Good Merlin!'

He offered her a lopsided smile. It was a privilege to be able to even share a room with her. Remus tried not to let out how pleased he was that they would certainly spend hours together guarding the Malfoy Manor in the upcoming months. As he lay in his bed later that night, Remus was sure that this time around, there was a brighter beacon of hope for the end of the war and it shone bubble-gum pink.


	39. 38 Fairy Tale

**A/N:** OMG, it's been so long and I've just been _so_ busy. I thought I could handle the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition and this fic, but I couldn't and as a result, I had to push this to the side for a while, but this chapter is finally done, yay! Good news is the competition is over and I can focus back on this fic. It feels so good to be publishing this again, you guys have no idea. I got my writing schedule back on track so expect updates soon here and I plan on writing a chapter of By My Side as well, so watch out for that! ;) As usual, thanks so much for all the reviews to the last chapter, you lot are truly brilliant! It always makes my day to read the reviews here, so please leave what you thought of this chapter in the box down there, will you? ;)

Lauren: Yes, I knew Dora means gift in greek and Nymphadora means gift of the Nymphs. The main reason I loved Teddy's name being Theodore was the fact that both Andromeda and Remus had their gift of Nymphs and gift of God (which is the meaning of Theodore), but J.K. Rowling came and said it's Edward so my heart died a little to know that it wasn't exactly that, but oh well. Edward means wealth protector and it's beautiful too. ^^

lupinfamily4ever: I listened to the song and it really is a wonderful song for both of them during a full moon, gave me a lot of feels, so thanks! xD

Enjoy, everyone!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 38: Fairy Tale<strong>

It would have been an ordinary morning at the Auror Office. Scrolls littered the desks of the cubicles, quills were dipped into inkpots before scratching the parchment as the deadline for the paperwork to be turned in drew nearer. Hurried steps echoed as a couple of Aurors ran to a last call mission, jumping over the bin that had been knocked down by the youngest of them. Everything would have been exactly the same if it weren't for her.

It was not the first time she had thought about it, Tonks had been trying to come up with several ways to bring it up to her partner, but nothing seemed good enough or subtle enough for that matter. She couldn't quite come to Savage and say "Hey, mate, I'm a part of a secret society to take down the worst wizard ever. Yeah, I've been lying to you for several months, but ... do you wanna join us?" No. Definitely not. That was exactly why she had spent a good while thinking of the best way to do it.

'Com'ere,' she called, having passed by his cubicle towards the short hall before Scrimgeour's office.

Savage frowned, putting down his quill, but followed her.

The hallway had smiling pictures of renowned Aurors who had already passed away and she stopped before the picture of a friendly, blond man; beside him there was his wife, a woman with a round face, looking not only rather happy, but also determined and ready to jump into action. Tonks knew that picture could have been taken during the war, many years ago; no one knew when the next attack would be. Much like now.

'The Longbottoms,' Savage started, 'tough ending, innit? Just when everyone thought it was safe ...'

'Yeah,' Tonks said, rubbing the corner of the photograph. 'What do you think about the Order?'

'_The Order?_' he questioned puzzled.

She nodded, pulling her copy of the Quibbler from the inside of her robes.

'I've been reading.' She handed it to him even though it was already a couple of weeks old. 'Have you read it?'

Savage cast a glance to the cubicles before nodding, his eyes falling to his feet. For a long moment, the silence simply stretched itself and Tonks was about to urge him to speak his mind when he lifted up his head.

'I believe him,' he said at last. 'I was a bit wary at first, but ... the evidences are crystal clear. Fudge's just refusing to see. No one's got any idea of the whereabouts of Bertha Jorkins, the Dementors have as good as left Azkaban, people disappearing just like the last time round ... and I think it's rather bold to do what they did, it's not everyone who would stand up against You-Know-Who like that,' he sighed then smiled. 'You believe him too, don't you?'

'I do, yeah.'

'Knew you would,' he told her with a small smile.

'I've joined the Order,' she said under her breath.

Savage's eyes widened and once again he looked at the cubicles to make sure they weren't being heard. 'You _what?_'

Her only reply was a nod.

'I had **no idea** _they_ were back.'

'Fudge can't know,' Tonks pointed out and she lowered her voice more to add 'Do you wanna join?'

Slightly surprised, Savage looked deeply into her eyes, crossing his arms, hands gripping his biceps.

'What would I have to do?'

'Patrols, go to meetings, watch over ex-Death Eaters, recruit, there's this one thing we gotta protect so we have shifts watching it. We've got people in Hogsmeade to watch over Harry during the weekends that he's out and you know, it's always good to have people here to hear Fudge's latest ideas. Dumbledore's the leader of course. We've got a Headquarters to discuss everything.'

'How long have you been doing it?'

'Well,' she put the magazine back in the pocket of her robes, 'since the beginning, when Cedric Diggory died.'

His eyebrows rose and he took a minute to exhale heavily.

'All right, if you've been doing it for so long, I'm sure that I can too.' He smiled at the sight of her wide grin.

'Brilliant!' Tonks whispered. 'I'll talk to Dumbledore and let you know.'

'Sounds good, mate.'

* * *

><p>Later that night at the Headquarters, waiting for the other Order members to arrive for the meeting, Remus had a book in his hand when he heard the familiar sound of someone tripping over the umbrella stand, cursing and then louder cursing as Mrs Black started to shout. With a smile on his lips, he marked the page before closing the book, standing to climb down the stairs and help close the curtains around the portrait. At the last flight of stairs however, he paused. Bright pink hair, strong muscles fighting the old woman in the painting with angry expression upon her face as she clearly tried her best not to start shouting insults back. Beautiful.<p>

'Evening, Tonks,' he greeted nearing her.

'... Hi,' was all she said closing half of the curtains and he remained silent, until Sirius's mother could not say another word.

'How are you?' Remus asked at last.

'Good,' she breathed. 'You?'

Him? Well, he was starting to feel uneasy and tired with the perspective of a full moon in a few days' time though he was glad he could still stand and have a decent discussion about whatever the matters Dumbledore decided to bring for them on that evening.

What he did not know was that she was well aware of the dates of full moons and that she was already dreading his pain and the sleepless night she would have.

'The usual.' Remus gestured for her to go down the hallway first. 'Busy day?'

Tonks nodded.

'Got a new recruit,' she told him.

'Is that so?' Remus was amazed, it wasn't easy for a young member like her to be able to get other people to join, but then again, he was sure there was something more than special about her. 'May I ask who?' he questioned as they arrived in the kitchen and Remus nodded his greeting to the attending members.

'Um, sure,' she answered, sitting in one of the mismatched chairs. 'Doubt you know him though. Savage – Lucas Savage, from the Auror Headquarters, he's my partner. Still gotta talk to Dumbledore though.'

A muscle in Remus's jaw tightened at the mention of the other male. However, a bit of him figured he should have seen it coming. Dora was a remarkable young woman and anyone who could not see it had to be blind or simply an idiot. He was neither and was sure that this Savage could see her the way he did. Worse than that though, was the fact that he did not need to know her Auror partner to know that Savage was a much better match for her than he was. Once more, anyone who could not see it had to be blind or simply an idiot. And she was neither. He was young, full of life and saved lives for a living. Tonks already saw Savage in a daily basis, even more now that he would join the Order; it was only a matter of time for her to fall in love with him. His heart skipped a beat. Still, he managed to offer her a small smile.

And when she did ... when her eyes started to shine at the mention of that other man, when she couldn't hold back the smile when she thought of him, when Tonks couldn't stop talking about him ... Remus knew it would be painful to watch her fall for that more suitable man. If possible, he would leave her at that precise moment. Leave her, leave London, find himself a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere, a job that gave him enough to put food on his table and cherish the memories he already had for the rest of his days. The less memories he had, the less she would have as well and the chances of her missing the old, damaged man who she thought was good and a real friend for her were smaller. Oh, how he wished these were peaceful times. Not because of everyone who would be able to leave their houses without needing to hold their wands tighter in their pockets; no, that would be the reason of a selfless man and he was not one of those. His main reason at that moment was quite selfish, Remus wanted it simply so he wouldn't have to suffer watching her loving another man for a tiny bit of his heart wanted her to love him. He wished to stop his own pain. He was jealous of Savage, he was angry at him for being better and he usually never felt this way, but then again, it wasn't usually this close to the full moon. He wanted to be useless for the Order, he would rather the Order wouldn't exist! However, this was war and each soldier was essential in the fight. Every single one of them could be the difference between winning and losing. Not just a battle, but thousands of lives.

'The Order needs him,' he said at last. 'His help will be appreciated.'

Tonks nodded, feeling a rush of pride at his words. It did not matter that she was the youngest there; she was helping the Order and more than some of the other members.

Finally, Dumbledore arrived and the meeting went on as usual, deciding shifts for the watch of the prophecy and the Death Eaters' houses, giving out reports (when the only new piece of information arrived): Elphias telling them all that he was seeing more and more of Lucius Malfoy around the Ministry, especially down at the Wizengamont. It could not mean a good thing. Malfoy would most likely be trying to bribe some of the other jurists or get even more wrong ideas inside of Fudge's head. Remus knew that if only Dumbledore was still the Chief Warlock, things would be much different, the headmaster would have found a way to get his ears exactly where they ought to be so he would know all they needed to so they could prevent the Minister from taking yet another action to help Voldemort to take over the Ministry completely.

When the meeting came to an end, Remus watched as most of the Order started to rise from their seats to leave the Headquarters chatting. Tonks went straight to Dumbledore and Remus couldn't help the tiny smile that came to his lips. At least he would be able to enjoy her company without any heartache for a little while longer; her presence had a soothing effect within him unlike anything else he had experienced, especially a couple of days from the full moon. Sirius took the opportunity to elbow him, casting a mischievous glance towards his young cousin.

'Admiring the view, huh?' Sirius grinned.

Remus merely shot him a disapproving look.

'C'mon, mate!' he exclaimed. 'No harm in admiring. Everyone knows that!'

Rolling his eyes, Remus stood up, straightening his robes.

'She's not for me,' he stated in a low voice.

'Aha!' A smirk on his lips, Sirius seemed to have received the best of news. 'So you do like her. I knew that of course and, Moony, my friend, have you listened to a word I said?' Sirius asked, starting to follow him out of the kitchen then stressed every word in his following say: 'No harm in admiring.'

Pocketing his hands, Remus shook his head.

'Pads, I said, "no." Did you even hear me?'

'So ... you haven't listened?'

Remus knew that though Sirius had not seen his eyes rolling, his friend had enough experience of living with him to know that he had done so. He wouldn't be surprised if somehow they had gone back in time and were talking with Padfoot while they were still at Hogwarts. Finally, they were back in the library. Remus stooped to get his book upon the coffee table and sat on the sofa, crossing his legs.

'She gets to you though, doesn't she?' Sirius asked, letting himself fall on the sofa beside him.

All Remus did was avert his eyes from his book to glare at him for a couple of seconds. Then, a door being opened caught his gaze and he sighed. Nymphadora. And the bloody wide, wonderful smile of hers.

'Hiding from people, are you?' she questioned.

Remus shook his head.

'Just reading,' he answered with a smile. 'Sirius seems to enjoy pestering my reading habits, however which I'm assuming is more your area of entertainment.'

The smile remained upon her lips while Tonks shrugged in a way that showed him that she did not have a choice. She disliked reading as well. He chuckled in response, eyes going back to the page he had tried to start reading two times already. Sirius was happily humming a song she did not recognise as she sat on the empty spot on the sofa. What she did next surprised both of them for not only it was something she had never done before, but also it was something that neither of them thought she would do.

'Read for me,' she asked.

As Remus blinked not quite sure that he had heard what he did, Sirius's brows furrowed, glancing at her.

'Sorry?'

'Read for me,' she repeated and getting more comfortable on the sofa, she added 'Let's see how good that book of yours really is.'

Seeing Remus's perplexed face, Sirius broke the silence with a chuckle.

'A-Are you sure?' Remus asked glancing down to his book. 'I'm not exactly at the beginning, so you probably wouldn't –'

'Yeah, I'm sure.'

Remus cleared his throat, eyeing her one more time as if to give her the chance to give up should she want to do so, but as she remained quiet, he took in a deep breath and started.

'I'll re-start the paragraph so you can ... all right. "Once more the knight paused, his head turned back to where Florence still stood. The tiniest sigh left his lips and she ran towards him, jumping in his arms, not caring about the loud clung of his armour. Elwin nodded to the other knights and they resumed marching without their leader.

"I fear for you, Elwin. What if you don't ever return?"

"You know it is my duty, Florence, my love, the kingdom must –"'

'Oh, for Merlin's sake!' interjected Tonks. 'You can't be serious that _that_ is the kind of book you enjoy reading.'

'_I'm_ Sirius,' her cousin grinned and after two glares, he continued grinning, but moved his eyes to the ceiling.

'Well, I didn't think –' Remus began.

Tonks seized the book from his hand and started skimming through the text.

'She doesn't really love him, does she?'

'Doesn't love him?' Remus frowned. 'He is the love of her life. They spent the whole book trying to be together and now that they got married, the safety of the kingdom is in danger because of –'

'Then why isn't she fighting?' Tonks asked matter-of-factly, running her eyes through the following pages. Remus looked appalled, but said nothing. 'If the battle – the safety of the kingdom is so important to him and if she really loved him, she'd be fighting by his side, she'd get her wand and march and not let him walk to his death alone.'

'For one, they are Muggles –'

'So? That makes her unable to hold a sword or something?'

'It's the 1800s!' Remus exclaimed rather indignantly. 'She wasn't trained –'

Tonks slammed the book shut.

'And you're really reading something from when women were reduced to housewives,' she sighed and handed it back to him. 'I don't know which of you is worse, you or your bloody book.' Standing up, she swirled on her heels and headed for the door she had crossed just a few minutes back, not seeing the look Remus shot her afterwards.

'What did I do?' he asked Sirius.

'You didn't ask her to go out with you, I bet,' Sirius replied sitting up then followed Tonks out of the room.

Remus heaved a sigh and for a split second he wondered where could he possibly take her to have dinner without making a fool of himself for not having enough gold to pay. Nowhere decent, he knew especially if he were to count the places where she could pay for their dinner and that was not what a woman like Tonks deserved. She deserved a knight like Elwin, with a great amount of money and a high position in the Wizarding society, definitely not someone like him. Her life could be a fairy tale like the one he was reading. She could marry well, have dozens of little punk kids running around her house and be disgustingly happy to the rest of her long life. And him? He had no place in it. He was just a monster, a monster that threatened the happiness of Elwin and Florence. However, unlike the one in the story, he was conscious to what he could do and was not going to prevent her from having her happy ending. Sirius didn't understand. He would step aside and let the knight take his rightful place by her side, be it Savage or whoever she saw worthy of such position.

Meanwhile, Sirius found Tonks at the drawing-room, her arm covering her eyes as she lied on the sofa.

'He'll come around,' he told her.

She lifted up her arm to frown at him then said 'Come round about what?'

'You know, the way you compared you and Remus to the couple in the 1800s,' he answered with a shrug and small smirk. 'Mad-Eye would be proud, cuz, it was quite smooth.'

Letting her breath out in a puff, Tonks propped herself up a bit on the sofa.

'Even you realised it and he didn't.'

'Moony isn't used to it,' Sirius explained then raising a hand, he added 'I can count on my fingers the number of times he'd shown interest in girls back at Hogwarts. It just isn't the kind of thing that comes easy to him.'

Blinking, Tonks hoped her cousin hadn't realised how fast her heart was beating in her chest or how she had stopped breathing for a moment.

'So ... you reckon he is interested in me?'

Looking at her sideways, Sirius offered her a short nod while saying 'Absolutely. Like I said, he isn't used to it, being a werewolf didn't make things easier for him. He just needs some time.'

The grin started to break her lips apart and Tonks did nothing to stop it, she didn't want to. She felt too happy to want to hide it, though she refrained it somewhat as she nodded the following second. Remus was interested in her; he just needed some time because of how his lycanthropy had made him feel about himself. However, that last bit wasn't exactly pleasant to her, especially since she had already waited almost two months since Valentine's Day, but at that moment, Tonks got the feeling that Remus Lupin was the kind of man worth waiting for and so that was why she said nothing when they met again for a night of watch at the Malfoy Manor the following week.

'Mum and Dad thought Harry was very brave to come out and say all that to the Quibbler,' was the topic Tonks chose for them. On that night, she had to be heavily disguised in case they were caught spying over the Malfoys', square face, long brown hair and much taller than her usual self.

'He truly was,' Remus said. 'Not everyone would have the courage, even if he or she had witnessed Voldemort's return.'

'They're afraid though,' she added. 'Mum thinks that's as good as putting a bull's eye on his chest.'

'He can't lie though,' Remus pointed out. 'Might as well tell the whole truth and gather more people to our side.'

'I know. She's just worried about him. And us. She reckons Fudge will be even more interested in Dumbledore and the Order, but it's been a month and nothing happened – nothing we know about at least. The Office is still slower than ever, it seems that even the thieves are afraid of doing something with Voldemort out there.'

'Umbridge's been worse at Hogwarts these days as well,' he added. 'She is both Fudge's eyes on Dumbledore.'

'Yeah, I've lost count of how many Educational Decrees are there.' Tonks shook her head, thinking of the latest – and rather encoded – letter from Ginny lying amidst so many things on her coffee table.

'Twenty-seven if I'm not mistaken. The one of the Quibbler was the last one, but –' He looked at her with a small grin on the corner of his lips. 'It's just like Dumbledore said, the students are commenting about it in the hallways; she prohibited them from reading it and that's exactly what will make them want to read it.'

'Silly toad,' Tonks chuckled.

* * *

><p>Ten days later, when Sirius had been sulking up in his mother's room in a mood and Remus had been securing a wardrobe so the creature within wouldn't escape, he heard heavy footsteps entering the house and gripped his wand, running down the stairs just in time to see Kingsley coming in, he had his brows furrowed and was looking all over the place, passing room by room as if searching for something.<p>

'Dumbledore's here?' he asked before Remus could ask what was wrong.

'Um, no,' he answered frowning. 'I mean, I was here all day, but upstairs, if he came very quickly, I could've missed him ...'

The Auror seemed to think for a moment, eyes wide lost in the wall in front of him, but raised a hand to his forehead.

'Kingsley, what happened?' Remus asked, knowing that if Dumbledore was in danger, they had to help; the whole Order was risking being exposed and Merlin only knew what the Ministry would do about that. He would have to run to the kitchen and hide everything that had the members' names so Tonks and everyone else could try to keep their jobs at the very least. He still had his hand on his forehead so Remus said 'Are you all right?'

'I'm fine. Dumbledore left Hogwarts –'

'He _what_?'

'Umbridge found out about Potter's defence club so Fudge wanted to expel him, but turns out it was called Dumbledore's Army so Dumbledore said he was to blame and Potter was acting under his orders so Fudge was going to have me and Dawlish arrest him, but he hexed us all,' Kingsley summarised. 'Minerva told me he left.'

'But where did he go?'

'I have no idea,' he replied, heading back to the door. 'I've to go before they notice, but if he comes here, let me know.'

'Will do.' Remus nodded watching Kingsley step out of the house. Exhaling heavily, he returned to his room, but he had just got a piece of parchment and a quill out of his drawer when he heard the door being opened once more. He lied the quill down and went to check who had arrived, thinking that he had to make sure he knew if Dumbledore arrived. An amused smile came to his lips when he saw Tonks climbing the stairs as carefully as she possibly could.

'Oh ... wotcher,' she greeted, opening a grin at the sight of him.

'Good evening, Dora.'

'I swear these stairs hate me. I've to go slow or it'll try to eat my foot or something. Don't wanna wake up the old hag.' As she came close enough, Remus offered her his hand and although she blinked at it for a short moment, Tonks took it and climbed the last steps. 'Thanks,' she said, unsure of what she should do when a man offered her his hand to help her with the stairs. Did he think she was so helpless? She wasn't _that_ clumsy, was she?

Not wanting to trouble her mind just yet with Kingsley's news, Remus led her to the room then gestured for her to wait.

'Hang on a second, this requires some professional equipment.'

Tonks furrowed her brows and crossed her arms over her chest, but watched as he sat down and started scratching the parchment with his quill.

'What you doing?' she asked, stepping closer and eyeing the parchment as his scribbles seemed to take most of the parchment.

Remus paused for a second to shoot her a fond smile; he should have known that her curiosity would get the best of her. His eyes returned to the parchment at the same time she sputtered 'A sun? You're drawing a sun? What in Merlin's name has possessed you to make you draw like a toddler?' In spite of herself, she chuckled at the sight of the man who once had been the kids' favourite Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor putting eyes and a smile on the drawing of a silly sun.

Raising his eyebrows, Remus pondered if he should let her know at that moment or after he had finished so he could explain his plan to her.

'In one way or another, this sun here, is a ball of fire,' he told her finishing the drawing.

'Yeah …' Tonks mumbled after the wardrobe shook to the point it hit the desk and if Remus hadn't finished, he would now have a splash of ink instead of his ridiculous sun. She hoped whatever it was in there, wasn't what she was beginning to think it was, especially with the way he described the drawing.

Remus stood up, pushing back the chair and proudly showing her his sun. Despite her insecurity, Tonks raised a hand to her mouth to stop her laughter. Was that really the man she had been thinking about every night before she went to sleep?

Yes, he was.

'No, don't mock my sun,' he requested with a small grin. 'I told you this was a professional equipment, didn't I? So, it's with_ this_ that you are going to defeat that Boggart,' he told her, tilting his head towards the wardrobe.

She could feel her smile falling as he confirmed her fears with the creature's name and did nothing to stop the grimace that took its place.

Blimey, but he hated to see her so upset. Remus swallowed hard, but kept looking into her eyes. He knew that she wasn't happy about his request, but she would be much unhappier if she kept going through life without a safe way to defeat a Boggart, especially the life of an Auror.

'You asked me how one could make fire seem funny all those months ago,' he reminded her, 'and you were chuckling just a minute ago.'

_At the sight of you drawing it, not the sun itself_, thought Tonks.

'I'm the son of Lyall Lupin,' Remus continued, 'and he was a great authority on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions, you know, Boggarts included. I cannot let you walk out of here without properly defeating a Boggart,' he told her solemnly then observed as she clenched her teeth, her eyes left his, watching the shaky wardrobe for a moment. Sighing, Remus added 'Please, it's the family business, just one try if it doesn't work we'll think of something else.'

Tonks knew Remus was well aware that he was asking her to face her worst fear right there, with no previous warning from him. He wanted her to re-live the memories yet again, but not only that, he also wanted that to be the last time she would have to face them unprepared, if his plan worked, she would have a faultless way to end Boggarts to the rest of her life. However, Tonks also knew that deep within she didn't have a choice. She couldn't tell him that she didn't have the courage to open that wardrobe door and face that creature; if she did so, she would be ashamed of herself for the rest of her life. She nodded opening her fingers so her wand would jump from its holder to her hand.

Remus drew out his wand as well and positioned himself behind her as she stood before the wardrobe. Swishing and flicking his wand, he made the parchment flew to stay in front of her.

'So you won't forget,' he said with a small smile. Sobering up, he cleared his throat. 'All right. Ready?'

'Ready,' she confirmed, focusing on the wardrobe door.

With a wave of his wand, Remus had it open and she felt immediately the hot breath of the fire. Tonks made to step backwards, but there was a tall man behind her and he did not falter. It wasn't like the wall of fire from when she was a little girl in her parents' house, but it was enough to remind her of it. _Daddy! Daddy!_ The whole wardrobe was burning; it wasn't possible –

'Think, Dora, think,' she heard him murmur in her ear.

It wasn't fire. Not really. However much it looked like it and reminded her of that day, it was just a creature trying to stun her with her fear. Her eyes went to the childish sun on the parchment and how she was chuckling at Remus drawing it not long ago. Her mind mixed both images and before long, she was imagining him sitting on his desk hunched over the parchment ... except said parchment was on fire where it was supposed to be the sun. Remus still had the same fond smile and amused gaze. Not a care in the world to his burning parchment which was a much more amusing scene than the one she had actually witnessed. Narrowing her eyes while trying to forget about the wall of fire in front of her and thinking of the humorous scene she had just imagined, Tonks gripped her wand tighter and cried '_Riddikulus!_'

The fire before her reduced until it was the size of Remus's sun and somehow it still had its pointy eyes and crooked smile. It was indeed ridiculous. Tonks found herself chuckling at it and turned her head back to him. Remus cocked an eyebrow, it wasn't quite what he had planned, but if it made her laugh, his mission had been accomplished. Flicking his wand, he sent the creature back into the wardrobe. His father would have been proud, wouldn't he? For a split second, he considered owling him, but with the first letter would come a second and a third and soon, he would be disturbing his father's life with his own problems. Lyall had enough sorrow to deal with since his mother's death, he had no business giving him any more heartache. He didn't know where he lived anyway.

Offering him a mocked bow and grinning widely, Tonks said 'Thank you very much, professor.'

Remus shook his head, smiling fondly at her.

'I just gave you a few instructions, you did everything.'

Tonks shrugged, smiling if a bit awkward. Merlin, he always managed to put her in that kind of situation where she wasn't sure how to react after a compliment.

Sitting on the bed, he sighed, knowing that she would like to be informed as soon as possible of what had happened at the school.

'Fudge was at Hogwarts just now.'

Tonks sat on the other end of the bed, frowning.

'Yeah? Doing what?'

'Wanting to get Harry expelled. That defence group the kids had was discovered – Umbridge caught them so they both went to see Dumbledore and wanted Harry out for breaking the Educational Decree, but –' Remus chuckled. He hadn't really stopped to think about it, but the group's name was ingenious and he felt quite proud to have taught all those kids since as far as he knew, they were mostly on Harry's class, give or take a couple of years. 'Harry named the group Dumbledore's Army.'

Tonks snorted.

'Seriously?' she asked and as Remus nodded with a smile on his face, she laughed.

Didn't they know that Dumbledore already had an army? And well, he had the decency not to call it _Dumbledore's Army_. The Order of the Phoenix was a much better name, especially since it did not expose right away the organisation's true purpose. She knew it was a rather childish thing to want to create a secret organisation and give it a name that would show everyone just how dangerous they were. However, she knew nowadays that it wasn't the best strategy and was reminded of when Mad-Eye told her of why the Aurors had been named that way. At first, most people thought it was a made up word simply to refer to the ones who battled crime for a living. When reminded of the word aurora though, it was clear that they had not received a random word as a name. Discreet with its disguised meaning and yet, beautiful in its purpose. They were the light that fought the dark. The hope amongst criminals. The name Dark wizards feared. And it always gave her great pride to wear that badge.

'It had a bright side though,' remarked Remus. 'It allowed Dumbledore to say that he was responsible for everything and that Harry was doing everything under his orders so he –'

'But then Dumbledore –'

Remus saw that she understood the headmaster's plan before he even finished saying it. He nodded.

'Instead of being arrested, he left. He no longer controls the school.' He shrugged, hoping it wouldn't compromise the school too much to not have Dumbledore as the headmaster. He could only wonder how it would go because he had been the headmaster since he could remember. 'Kingsley said he hexed everyone in the room. I reckon the other professors will do what they can to keep the school going the same way, but undoubtedly there will have some changes.'

'The cunt is taking over now, I bet,' said Tonks letting her breath out in a puff. She did not envy the kids at Hogwarts. She may have had some awful professors for Defence Against the Dark Arts, but she never had someone like Umbridge teaching the subject.

'I suppose.' Remus intertwined his own fingers. 'Until they pass another decree, Minerva is the headmistress. It's just a matter of time though. Dumbledore will likely call an emergency meeting in the next couple of days.'

Tonks nodded, sucking in a deep breath and standing up. There was nothing she could do at that moment to help.

'Kreacher made any dinner or is he missing again?'

Remus chuckled.

'I'm not sure ...' He frowned jumping to his feet to accompany her to the kitchen. 'I can make you something if he hasn't.'

The little pleasures of life ... cooking her dinner during a war in an ancient house where used to live wizards who supported the very man they were trying to stop.

'Oh and, Remus?'

He turned to her with an arched eyebrow in a mute question.

'Thanks again.' Tonks tilted her head towards the wardrobe and stood on her tiptoes, raising her hand to grip his chin and pull his face closer to her and placed a firm kiss upon his cheek. In over a decade since she first encountered a Boggart, Tonks had never been able to get rid of it, let alone so successfully. Mad-Eye would be proud. She had a wide grin on her lips and all because of him. Remus Lupin was definitely the kind of man worth waiting for.


	40. 39 Smitten

**A/N 1:** Hey, look! A fast chapter, how long has it been since you guys had one of those? Anyway, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter, you guys are amazing and I missed you quite a lot, reading the reviews only made me realise that so that's why I wrote this one fast, I reckon xD About this chapter: recognisable dialogue belongs to J.K. Rowling and if by some miracle you still haven't read Remus's bio over Pottermore, you should do it, just saying.

Enjoy!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 39: Smitten<strong>

Much like Remus had predicted, they were called for an emergency meeting the following night, or rather morning, since Dumbledore asked them to be there at one in the morning so all the professors could be at the meeting without Umbridge realising they had been missing for an hour, even if it was a Sunday. The headmaster had sent a note with a single red feather to convene the meeting and as a consequence, Remus was soon sending Patronuses to all over the country, somewhat glad it was just the Order that would see just how wolfish he really was. Fudge had not been so fast as he stepped into the Auror Headquarters only on the following day to demand that all Aurors were to not only try to locate Black, but keep both eyes open on Dumbledore's whereabouts as well.

Going to patrol the area around the Headquarters under Dumbledore's orders to make sure they were safe, Remus left Sirius with a bottle of Firewhisky as his only companion and did not notice that Tonks had arrived just a few minutes afterwards. Thankfully, she stayed with him while the other members arrived, chatting about their mutual friend. After a few shots, Sirius went on a rant over how much Moony sent girls out of his life and how he did not know how to deal with them.

'Trust me, Tonks, gentleman though he is, Moony just isn't looking for any clue that you – or anyone else – clapped eyes on him like that. Once he does ...' Sirius smirked and sipped on his Firewhisky.

One by one the members arrived and joined them in the drawing-room. Eventually, even Dumbledore crossed the door. Tonks wasn't quite sure why, but there was something about defying the Ministry and doing precisely what they were telling her not to do that left her in a very good mood. Well, one might add to that joyful mix the fact that she would be seeing Remus Lupin two days in a row.

'**Filth! Scum! Freaks! Be gone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers?**' The Order didn't bother to shut Mrs Black as they had been chatting quite loudly and would only wake her up again the following second.

'Professor!' Tonks called raising her hand and Dumbledore gazed at her through his half moon glasses. 'I've got a mission to take you and the most beautiful silver beard back to the Office. Mind going for a stroll at the Ministry with me?' she asked with a wide grin.

Mad-Eye eyed her warily, but most of the members laughed.

'I'm afraid, my dear, that Professor Binns has a much more beautiful beard than I do, not to mention even more silver. Perhaps you should consider inviting him. I know he has an extensive knowledge on the Office of Misinformation, enough to make even an enthusiast like yourself bored.' Dumbledore smiled amusedly whilst the whole room roared with laughter. Mrs Black only shouted louder after that.

Hearing a knock on the door, Tonks promptly stood up (as the only missing member was Remus) and went to open the door still chuckling at the headmaster's say. Seeing him all wet from the rain, she asked 'May I take your clothes?'

Not Remus's eyes going wide in surprise and not even Emmeline's throat being cleaned quite loudly, Tonks's smile only faltered at the sound of Mad-Eye Moody's growl of laughter and Sirius's bark. She blinked a couple times at him and then her eyes widened in realisation.

'_**Cloak!**_ _I meant cloak!_' she cried.

Remus let out his breath through his nose, relieved and gave her a small smile, unfastening his cloak. Mad-Eye and Sirius hurried to finally shut Mrs Black's portrait before the start of the meeting.

'Yes, you may take my cloak,' he chuckled a moment before realising that he should have been the one welcoming her and offering to take her cloak when she arrived.

Tonks placed it on the hanger by the door and asked 'Nothing outside?'

'No.' Remus shook his head. 'I doubt that even Death Eaters would want to spy on us with this weather. Besides, they don't have any knowledge of our Headquarters, but it won't harm us to be careful. Dumbledore's here yet?'

'Yeah.' She nodded and started following Emmeline to the kitchen. 'He arrived just a minute ago.'

At the kitchen, they sat; Tonks elbowed Savage, grinning while saying 'We don't usually have meetings that start in the small hours.'

'Good to know.' He yawned.

Remus sighed watching Tonks talk with him. As he paced the perimeter around the house moments ago, it was impossible not to remember the day they had talked at that square in front of the Headquarters. The cold didn't bother them much then, especially with the laughter he shared with her on that afternoon. While observing the bench they had chosen to sit then, Remus wished he had had a mythology book in his hands the day she asked him to read for her. Undoubtedly, it would make a much more interesting read than Elwin and Florence's story. Though he had to admit that during medieval times, women weren't allowed to show all their talents, Florence chose well (not that she had been given a choice exactly); going to the battle would only make Elwin worried and he wouldn't duel with all his might if he was concerned with protecting her all the while. Still, Dora's grin had warmed him after the pouring rain outside.

Neither she nor Remus were sleepy on that night. In the last few weeks they had had more than their usual two night shifts watching the prophecy at the Ministry, but with the addition of the houses of the Death Eaters, the members of the Order barely had any free time on their hands. At least a messy sleep schedule had left them used to being awake until late at night. The only real problem were the early mornings, that was when they were starting to get used to go to bed rather than leaving as most of London was waking up.

'I apologise for the late hour,' started Dumbledore once they had all taken their seats and after a glance at all the sleepy faces, 'but I have a serious matter to inform you all and could not do so at broad daylight, not even in our hidden Headquarters. As most of you must be aware by now, I no longer am the headmaster of Hogwarts. Cornelius made an attempt to arrest me yesterday, but I was a bit uncooperative myself and chose to flee instead of going with him to an unprotected Azkaban and Professor Dolores Umbridge has taken my place as the Headmistress since this morning.'

McGonagall sat more upright in her seat, her lips becoming thinner.

'However, I will not go into hiding. Cornelius wishes to stop me from showing the signs of Voldemort's return, but he must know me well enough by now to know that I will not hide. As we all know, he's getting stronger each day and we must gather all the help we can to our side.' Dumbledore nodded shortly to Savage, who tilted his head slightly to acknowledge his words and offered him a small smile in return.

Remus was sure he heard Sirius mutter something. He did not need to listen to know what his friend was thinking. Dumbledore was an escapee pretty much like Sirius was ... and he was telling them all that he would not hide, that he would stand up and fight and not let the Minister of Magic tell him what to do. However, he expected Sirius to do just that, to sit around and expect everyone else to do what he loved to do. He sighed. Remus knew he had to inform the Order, but maybe this wasn't the wisest way to do it.

'There is information on Voldemort that must be collected and I will use this free time I have now to try and do so. I'm afraid I won't stay long in one place, otherwise I would let you all know my location, but as it is, you are all safer not knowing. Nevertheless, you all know how to contact me, should you need to.'

The members nodded and murmured in agreement. The Patronus was still the safest magical way to contact someone, especially someone whose location was unknown.

'Fudge has put us all on your hunt, Dumbledore,' came Kingsley's deep voice from the opposite corner where they were.

'Thank you, Kingsley, but Cornelius won't be taking me to Azkaban even if he had the whole Ministry after me,' Dumbledore said.

'Cornelius was not the only one with a strenuous day today,' McGonagall pointed out with what Remus reckoned to be a mischievous glint in her eyes. 'Professor Umbridge had quite the trouble clearing fireworks all over the school. And all thanks to Messrs Fred and George Weasley,' she added moving to look at Molly and Arthur.

Flitwick smirked a bit in his seat beside her.

'How come?' questioned Molly looking rather cross as she leant a bit over the table.

'Well ...' Minerva placed her elbows on the table, lacing her fingers together. 'It's those ... products they have been fabricating. There is a range of fireworks in the midst and apparently they decided to try them all at once in the second floor this afternoon.'

'_But that's –_' Molly began.

Dumbledore raised a hand to stop her as well as the soft chuckles of the others. He seemed to be smiling smugly; surely that sort of mayhem wouldn't have happened if he were still the headmaster.

'Caused a right pandemonium at lunch time, those two,' squeaked Flitwick. 'And then some more as she had to keep getting rid of them all day. We didn't hide our displeasure with your departure, professor,' he added, eyeing Dumbledore. 'Minerva and I made sure she knew that she was the only one with the _authority_ to vanish the fireworks. Furthermore, it took her quite a while to figure out that the Fading Charm was the only one that worked to get rid of them, every time she tried the Vanishing Spell, they multiplied.'

'Was there any student harmed?' Dumbledore asked.

'By no means,' McGonagall answered, shaking her head. 'As much as those two don't know how to behave, Filch and Umbridge were the only ones who were poorly affected by the fireworks.'

'Then I cannot condemn them,' said Dumbledore.

'Still ...' murmured Molly, 'they shouldn't ...'

Arthur however, smiled, but had the decency to hide it from his wife a moment later.

A glance at Severus three seats away from him and Remus believed that there was one more person displeased about the twins' mischief. The professor in him wanted to reprehend the boys for trouble the students' time so near the exams. However, the Marauder wanted to congratulate them for being so inventive; after stealing Dumbledore's post, that seemed to be exactly what Umbridge deserved in her first day as headmistress.

'Very well,' Dumbledore continued, checking his watch with stars and planets. 'I'm afraid I must leave you. I am likely to be unavailable from time to time, but I shall return here weekly for the meetings and assure that everything is going as planned. Meeting's over. Dismissed.'

Slowly, they all started to rise from their chairs, barely chatting as most of them were far too sleepy to engage in too complex conversations.

'Not usually this fast, are they?' asked Savage approaching the door. 'The meetings?'

'Um, no,' answered Tonks, following him. 'We have to schedule the shifts on the prophecy, the Death Eaters' houses, give reports ... but we decided all that last Wednesday, so ...'

They had just entered the hall, but Remus hadn't left the kitchen yet. Frowning somewhat, she stopped, looking back for a moment before turning to Savage.

'You can go ahead. I've a couple things to talk with Remus,' she told him, tilting her head towards the kitchen.

'Yeah? Fine then. I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Cheers.'

Nearing the kitchen door, Tonks heard his hoarse voice and paused, listening to him.

'If you want, I can do it for you.'

'Oh, that's very kind of you.'

_Who was that woman talking to him? ... Hestia? _Tonks wondered, sitting on one of the step of the stairs.

'Are you certain?' Hestia asked.

'Why, yes, of course,' replied Remus, sounded rather pleased. 'I've some free time this week. One more shift won't be a problem.'

'Well, thank you for covering for me then,' she said. 'I'd do it myself if I didn't have to wake up so early and leave it unprotected for three hours.'

'I know, but it really isn't a problem,' he assured her and Tonks didn't need to have her eyes on him to know that he was smiling.

That man ... was wonderful. They already had their two night shifts at the Hall of the Prophecy every week, another shift watching over some Death Eater's house and now he was simply offering to take another night shift in Hestia's place. Tonks had enough experience with him to know that he would not go after her and demand that she took one of his to compensate next week. Remus would just do it out of the goodness of his heart. He was the kind of man that opened doors and pulled chairs for women simply because he thought it was the right thing to do. He expected nought in return. And not just that. Within the Order, everything was brilliant, but outside ... he behaved the same way, but instead of sweet smiles and murmured 'thank you's, he got a jinx on the face for something he had no control over. Witches and wizards would shun him simply because he turned into a wild animal every month. They didn't care about him. Didn't care that Remus Lupin was kind, smart, brave, polite, well-read, intelligent, he was even funny on occasion ... and – and she loved him. Tonks exhaled heavily. Liv could say whatever she wanted. There was no reason to deny that, it wasn't just a crush anymore, it wasn't just a bloke she thought about every now and then. She thought of him every night before falling asleep, she thought of him every time they had a meeting; coming to the Grimmauld Place had become a happy thought just because she got to see him. She loved him. It was stupid to love any other man, Remus cared about her and not once made a single remark on which appearance she should have or which he preferred, he was always glad to be with her. Who else had ever done that for her? She loved him for that. He was the man she had been missing, but didn't realise until she met him. She loved him and it felt brilliant.

Hestia left the kitchen and spared a glance at her on the stairs. 'Only you to be happy at two in the morning after an emergency meeting,' she said after having spotted her smile. Tonks's optimism was well known among the Order, but she hadn't been smiling because of it. 'Goodnight, Tonks,' she added with a yawn and a wave, leaving to the hall.

'Goodnight,' Tonks murmured eyeing the kitchen door and standing up a moment later.

A big part of her wanted to go over to him, hug him tightly and not let go for a good few minutes. However, she knew that Remus would look at her confused and she would come up with a dull excuse for her deed like "I missed you" or something. He would just look at her with a smile before gently pushing her away, but secretly thinking that he was too dirty to be hugging anyone because he was a werewolf.

'So ... we have one more shift this week?' was what Tonks opted to ask, approaching him with a grin she hoped to look natural enough.

Remus shook his head.

'You needn't worry about it,' he told her. 'I've got it covered. Besides, you've got work tomorrow morning, have you not?'

'I can start late and work a few more hours at night.' Tonks shrugged. She and Savage weren't scheduled to be responsible for the Auror Office on Mondays, it wouldn't be a problem.

'Scrimgeour will ask questions,' Remus foretold. 'Please, let's not jeopardise the Order unnecessarily.'

A muscle in her jaw tightened, but she nodded.

'Message me if you need me, yeah?'

'Will do,' Remus assured her, gesturing to the kitchen steps so he could take her to the door. 'Do you want me to accompany you home?'

How in Merlin's name hadn't she seen earlier that she loved him?

'I'm the Auror, Rem,' she reminded him with a chuckle. 'Not you. Only had a couple shots, I'm well enough to Apparate, don't worry.'

'All right then.' He nodded. 'Have a good night.'

'Goodnight, Remus.' And she swirled on the spot.

At her home, Tonks ran her hand over her face. She loved him. Her heart was beating madly in her chest and her brain seemed to be working at a thousand miles per second, but she didn't have a choice other than go to bed since she had to work in the morning. Perhaps, she should put her alarm clock an hour earlier; jogging would definitely help her process. After changing her clothes, she lay awake in her bed for a while, but managed to fall asleep somehow. Though, her night wasn't exactly calm. She jolted awake the next morning wondering when did her brain think that walking about with "I love Remus Lupin" on her forehead was a good idea, as she had done in her dream. Unfortunately, the bloody alarm clock had become the doorbell to Grimmauld Place the minute she rang it to ask Remus what he thought of it.

Jogging only served her to panic over how much she didn't know how to tell him. Half hour of running around the nearest streets gave her no clue, so Tonks figured she had to talk with an expert of other people's love life, or rather, her own love life, her dragon chaser friend, Liv.

At the Auror Office, she opened a few scrolls of paperwork she had to deal with and on top of those, she had a scrap parchment.

_Dear Liv,_

_How have you been? Still taking care of the same baby dragons you told me last year?  
>Things here are going pretty much the same, but unfortunately, my free time is shorter than ever.<br>With Dumbledore missing, we must search every inch of the country, it's for a good cause though.  
>The creatures project is taking more time from me lately and at this rate, I'm just glad I can still hear<br>the Magpies matches. Speaking of them, remember I told you I got __him__ tickets and I'd take him to  
>the match on your birthday? Yeah, we went, it was great. We won, but his company was better.<br>There is only one problem, I fell for him, Liv. Hard. Well, that isn't really the problem. The problem  
>is that I love him and I don't know what to do. I've left quite a few clues, but he's blind to that kind of<br>thing. You met him, you know he's not the kind of bloke I go out with. I mean, he's the complete opposite!  
>I don't want to spit how I feel on his face and scare him away. And he doesn't get my clues.<br>I spoke to his friend and he reckons he feels the same way about me. I was hoping you could tell  
>me what to do or at least a couple tips because Alex seems to be a bit serious (is he?) and what did you do?<br>You never told me how you two got together in the first place so I was hoping to get an idea or two  
>from you because I can wait forever for him to realise.<em>

_I miss you. And Charlie. Give him a tight hug from me. Any idea when either of you are coming home?  
>You should bring Alex by sometime, it's been almost a year since you two are together and I never met him.<br>I'm going to do something on my birthday so now you have an excuse.  
>Hope to hear from you soon!<br>Love,_

_Tonks_

_PS: Was it that obvious to you when you came around that I liked him?_

Even with the training their owls got in the Auror Office, one could never be too careful with their post, especially when inside the Ministry. Tonks had a feeling that they would start opening letters soon, if they hadn't started already, that was. A bit of her wanted to tell her the whole story, but Remus's lycanthropy wasn't her secret to tell and even if she could do it, there was the problem of the Ministry. If only he wasn't a lycanthrope ... she wouldn't have to keep that essential bit of information from her friend, or worry about the Ministry; not to mention that he wouldn't be so caught up in his curse and would have noticed by then how she felt about him.

Tonks hoped that now that Dumbledore was free of his responsibilities at the school, he would have enough free time to gather all the information on Voldemort (as Dumbledore himself had mentioned at the meeting) and convince Fudge that he had returned. It was not only a nuisance to have to write codified letters when they should all be protecting their homes, but also the Aurors would be able to spend their time on what really mattered like helping defeat Voldemort rather than look for Dumbledore's whereabouts.

When Savage arrived, they disguised themselves and went to a rather empty pub in the north of Scotland for lunch and stayed there talking most of the afternoon since they didn't know where Dumbledore was, but weren't going to look for him as Fudge had told them to do either. Back at the Ministry, they marked the location they had supposedly looked for him on the gigantic map the Minister had put on their wall and Tonks winked to a photo of Sirius just underneath it, her cousin gave an almost imperceptible wink back and returned to sulking.

Penates arrived late at night that day, but Liv's letter only came in three days later.

_Sweet good Merlin! Great tough Auror Tonks completely head over heels for a bloke. This day came later than  
>I thought. Many times I expected to hear from you that you and Savage were a couple, but oh well.<br>I wish I was there to see you make lovey dovey eyes at him, don't bother denying that you're doing them,  
>I know you. And you know I know you. But no matter, I'll be there in June and see to myself.<br>Yeah, I can take a couple days and be there for your birthday. Not so sure about Charlie, he has a  
>female Horntail under his watch and he seems to be the only one who can get 10 feet from her<br>without getting his broomstick on fire. Is your party going to be on the 10__th__ or on the following  
>Saturday? I'll try to take Alex with me, but I'm not making any promises.<em>

_To answer your question Alex made the first move, so I don't suppose there's much for you to use.  
>What I can tell you is try to give him a couple more hints. And I'd say to make them more direct, but<br>knowing that subtlety isn't your forte, they probably already were. I only met him for a bit that day,  
>but if he really is that kind of traditionalist bloke, they tend to prefer things like they were three<br>centuries ago. You know, the man courting the woman until she agrees to marry him without they  
>even kissing. All right, maybe not exactly like that, but I'd try to give him the chance to make the first move.<br>However, if he doesn't get your hints, I don't think you have a choice, love, just tell him.  
>There's a square in front of his house, isn't there? Ask him to walk with you, make sure you're alone<br>and start by saying he's a great bloke and then tell him you fell for him. You're brave, it's not that hard.  
>I hope to see you two together when I arrive to your party, yeah?<em>

_My babies are doing brilliant! Thanks for asking. We lost one in the winter though, they're getting  
>bigger and bigger and their mum couldn't keep them all warm enough. It's all right, usually we lose<br>more and he was the tiniest of them all. I was hoping I could save them all though because ... a girl can dream, right?  
>And not just of older blokes. ;)<em>

_Love,_

_Liv_

_P.S.: After the game it was indeed quite obvious, Dora. Three 'no's for blokes you'd say 'yes'  
>on any other day. Plus, you wouldn't shut up about him.<em>

The smiley face kept winking at her and Tonks sighed. She couldn't use Alex and Liv as base because Remus seemed unable to make the first move, but her friend was right, he would like the opportunity to ask her to go out with him and she would give him a couple more chances. Though the idea of the square was brilliant, she would have to thank Liv for that. Perhaps, she could take him to a park; it would be a good choice too. The Regent's Park wasn't so far from Grimmauld Place, just a few minutes' walk and they could chat about Sirius, the Marauders; that would leave him in a good mood ... before she left him in a much better mood with three special words.

* * *

><p>'Fancy a drink, mate?' asked Sirius showing the bottle of Firewhisky in his hand.<p>

Remus stopped his quill and raised his eyes from the report he had been writing on his last watch with Tonks on the Malfoy Mannor.

'No, thank you, Pads. It's been two days, Dumbledore is waiting,' he said, restarting to write.

'You've got plenty of time to finish it later.' Sirius poured a large amount in a glass. 'Come on, get that chess set my dear cousin gave you for Christmas. Every time you lose a piece, I get to drink.'

Remus had a feeling that with Sirius it was more likely for him to drink every time he moved a piece instead. The glass slid until it hit his hand and Remus looked up to see his friend's grin.

'Five in the afternoon ... We should rename teatime to Firerwhiskytime, don't you think?'

'I must finish this, if you can't wait ten minutes –'

'Fine!' Sirius hissed. 'I'll get Kreacher to cook us something while we wait. He's probably at the attic again,' he added after having cast a glance to the House-elf's den in the cupboard and seen it empty.

Sighing, Remus watched as Sirius marched out of the kitchen taking the bottle with him. In a way it surprised him that Mrs Black had remained quiet in her portrait. Lately, it had taken less and less to put Sirius in a mood, any little thing would make him storm out to his hideout with Buckbeak and Remus suspected that the Blacks' vault had emptied quite a bit to fund Ogden's factory. However, if he stopped to think about it, his reaction was quite predictable. Sirius had been stuck in the house for over ten months now, hearing of everyone else's missions, stakeouts, talking about the Hall of the Prophecy like a normal thing when he had never set foot there, had barely set foot out of the house to begin with. Though, Remus was beginning to suspect that he hadn't been as stuck in the house as Dumbledore thought. Sirius would go to bed early and stay in late, remaining in his bedroom for twelve hours at a time or more. It didn't strike him as simply the lack of something to do. He variably spent the whole night out in a shift, leaving Sirius all by himself. Who was to say that he had indeed been in his room all the while? All he had to do was return before dawn. Remus focused back on his report, he still had to write a note to Tonks telling her that they had a different target for next month, but he heard a voice he didn't expect to hear until summer.

'Sirius?'

'Harry!' he replied after having nearly jumped out of his chair. To his shock the boy was in the kitchen's fireplace, or rather, his head was. 'What are you – What's happened, is everything all right?'

'Yeah,' he said. 'I just wondered – I mean, I just fancied a – a chat with Sirius.'

'I'll call him,' Remus assured him, standing up and heading to the door. Merlin, Harry in the kitchen ... if Dumbledore knew ... 'He went upstairs to look for Kreacher, he seems to be hiding in the attic again ...'

Remus climbed the stairs as quietly as he could in his hurry. If there was anything that would get Sirius out of his foul mood, it was talking with Harry.

'He isn't here,' stated Sirius when he saw his friend at the door.

'We'll look for him later. Harry's down in the kitchen, wants to have a word,' he told him.

'What?' he asked, already half running out of the room.

'Yes, in the mantel,' Remus answered as Sirius followed him. 'I reckon he's in some sort of trouble. What else would he be doing here?'

They arrived back in the kitchen on the next minute.

'What is it?' Sirius asked at once, dropping to the floor so he was on the same level as Harry and sweeping his long hair out of his face. Remus knelt down, wondering what had happened at Hogwarts that made the boy need to look for them. 'Are you all right? Do you need help?'

'No, it's nothing like that ...' answered Harry causing Remus to frown. 'I just wanted to talk ... about my dad.'

Remus looked at Sirius and saw his friend looking back at him with the same surprise he felt. Harry was still a boy and he needed his parents every now and then. With Dumbledore gone and Umbridge making the school miserable with her rules, that need most likely became bigger and he was the closest thing he would ever have to a father. Though he could help, Remus was just glad that the boy had Sirius. Much like three years ago, when he was glad Harry had him instead.

'I was at Snape's Office for an Occlumency lesson,' started Harry, 'but he got called to solve an issue and left. He used Dumbledore's Pensieve to stow a few thoughts he didn't want me to see in case I entered his defences. I was alone there and – well, I got curious.'

Remus nodded understandingly at that, especially if he had seen something of James prior to entering the Pensieve. Anything would have sounded better than none of the memories Harry had of James.

'I saw my dad a-and you. You had just finished your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. and you all went to stay under a beech tree by the lake. Snape wasn't far from you lot and my dad saw him, disarmed him, threw an Impedimenta Jinx on him and hung Snape upside down and you two started taunting him until my mum stood up to defend him. My dad asked my mum out and she said she would rather go out with the giant squid and then she left and my dad kept taunting Snape and that was when Snape got me out of the Pensieve, the real Snape, that is.' Harry sighed a bit breathless, watching them.

Remus realised that perhaps, nothing was better than only that memory of James. Under that optic, his late best friend seemed to be an arrogant bully teenager fascinated with Lily. Harry never got to see the man he truly became. James was at his worst then and that was all his son had seen. Remus knew he would hate to see someone judge him for a bad full moon night.

'I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry,' Remus said quietly. 'He was only fifteen –'

'I'm fifteen!' Harry argued.

'Look, Harry, James and Snape hated each other from the moment they set eyes on each other, it was just one of those things, you can understand that, can't you? I think James was everything Snape wanted to be – he was popular, he was good at Quidditch – good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts and James – whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry – always hated the Dark Arts,' Sirius advocated.

'Yeah, but he just attacked Snape for no good reason,' Harry argued, 'just because – well, just because you said you were bored,' he finished as if apologising.

'I'm not proud of it,' Sirius told him quickly.

Remus eyed Sirius sideways. Up to this day, the highlight of his day was to taunt Snape whenever he came for a meeting. Back then, it was much worse. Sirius was everything he just described of James as well, except James had the supporting family that Sirius did not. And James just wanted to look good for one girl rather than the whole female population of Hogwarts. Remus could only do his best to keep up with them, that was why he always had a book in his hand, he didn't want to be the werewolf with mediocre marks next to James and Sirius.

'Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did – everyone thought they were the height of cool – if they sometimes got a bit carried away –'

'If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean,' Sirius interjected.

Remus smiled, knowing that it was the truth.

'He kept messing up his hair,' Harry told them sounding a bit upset.

Remus laughed with Sirius. Arrogant little berk indeed, just trying to show off.

'I'd forgotten he used to do that,' said Sirius affectionately.

'Was he playing with the Snitch?' Remus asked eagerly.

'Yeah,' Harry answered.

Remus grinned at Sirius and he grinned back at him. James had played with that Snitch for so long ... He would have made a fair Seeker by the end of the year.

'Well ... I thought he was a bit of an idiot.'

'Of course he was a bit of an idiot! We were all idiots!' Sirius exclaimed as if excited with his new title. 'Well – not Moony so much.'

Remus shook his head, thinking of his Prefect badge and all the difference he could have made, especially in the scene Harry saw.

'Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape? Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?' he enquired. No, it was all terror that speaking his mind on the Snape subject would made him lose his friends.

'Yeah, well, you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes ... that was something ...' Sirius alleged.

'And he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!' Harry told them as if hoping they would take all his doubts on his father's character away, but Lily was another special case, just like Snape, but the other way around.

'Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around,' Sirius told him with a shrug. 'He couldn't stop himself showing off whenever he got near her.'

'How come she married him?' Harry asked miserably. 'She hated him!'

'Nah, she didn't,' Sirius assured him curling his lips between a grin and a smirk.

Snape hated James, of that he was sure, but that was not what Lily felt towards him, not even back then.

'She started going out with him in seventh year,' Remus informed Harry.

'Once James had deflated his head a bit,' Sirius pointed out.

'And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,' Remus added.

'Even Snape?' Harry questioned.

'Well,' Remus started, 'Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?' He knew Harry himself wouldn't have done so; he remembered very well the brawl Harry had with the Malfoy kid.

'And my mum was OK with that?'

'She didn't know too much about it, to tell you the truth,' answered Sirius. 'I mean, James didn't take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?' He frowned at Harry, who still seemed unconvinced. 'Look, your father was the best friend I ever had and he was a good person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He grew out of it.'

'Yeah, OK,' Harry agreed. 'I just never thought I'd feel sorry for Snape.'

'Now you mention it,' Remus interjected, furrowing his brows, 'how did Snape react when he found you'd seen all this?'

'He told me he'd never teach me Occlumency again,' said Harry indifferently, 'like that's a big disappoint—'

'He WHAT?' shouted Sirius, causing Harry to jump and inhale a mouthful of ashes.

'Are you serious, Harry?' Remus asked, begging for it to be a bad joke. 'He's stopped giving you lessons?' If Harry couldn't close his mind, the whole Order was in dangerous ... If Voldemort knew ... it was only a matter of time before he used it against the boy.

'Yeah,' Harry answered rather surprised. 'But it's OK, I don't care, it's a bit of a relief to tell you the –'

'I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape!' Sirius decided and he made to stand up, but Remus wrenched him back down again. He didn't want Snape teaching him lessons, now didn't want him to stop. Any reason to teach Snape a lesson, it seemed.

'If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!' Remus stated. 'But, Harry, first of all, you're to go back to Snape and tell him that on no account is he to stop giving you lessons – when Dumbledore hears –'

'I can't tell him that, he'd kill me!' Harry said desperate. 'You didn't see him when we got out of the Pensieve –'

'Harry, there is nothing so important as you learning Occlumency!' Remus told him sternly. 'Do you understand me? Nothing!'

'OK, OK,' Harry agreed discomposed. 'I'll ... I'll try and say something to him ... But it won't be ...'

He fell silent as if trying to hear something. 'Is that Kreacher coming downstairs?'

'No.' Sirius glanced behind himself. 'It must be somebody your end ...'

Harry looked scared for an instant.

'I'd better go!' he said hastily and pulled his head out of the mantel.

Remus decided to wait until night time to send a Patronus to Snape, not wanting to cause the professor any trouble upon receiving a message from him in front of Umbridge, a werewolf nonetheless. As much as he had hated James back then, it was not reason to punish Harry for James's deeds, to put them all in danger, to risk Harry's life! Voldemort could be seeing them any time now, could be taking action to know what the Order had been doing. If only Harry and the kids hadn't had those Extendable Ears ... All their caution to protect the Order's secrets, protect themselves, guard the Headquarters, all that would be useless if Voldemort had a window in Harry's eyes, right where he needed the most. What he told the boy before he and Tonks left the kids at Hogwarts seemed to have entered in one ear and left the other ... Harry had said he didn't care about not having Occlumency lessons, he didn't understand the true importance of it, did he? Merlin, he was just a boy ...

Sitting, Remus struggled for a minute to return to his report, remembering how she had asked if there was anywhere he would like to take her to get his mind off of Harry. Her question had been rather abrupt and he didn't quite understand where she was coming from since a woman like her certainly would have much better friends to take her to much better places, but his answer had been as simple as it had been sincere: anywhere that made her happy.

The reply to his Patronus message came in later that night and was rather rude. Snape not only refused to continue to teach Occlumency to Harry, but also insinuated that he was as arrogant as James Potter once had been. He alleged that the boy had to learn to face the severe consequences of his acts otherwise he would just keep behaving like his father while everyone else took care of everything. Snape made it very clear that he was not going to resume the lessons, especially when someone like Remus was asking him to, he had no authority over him and Potter was lucky that he had not told Umbridge of what he had done, or he would have enough detentions to earn him Ds in all his O.W.L.s in fact, he would be surprised if Harry didn't receive those marks by the end of the summer.

Remus sighed at that, he could only hope that Harry had better luck while talking to Severus, but considering what he had just heard, he thought his attempts were doomed already. Fortunately, Sirius had not been with him to hear it or he was sure he would have taken the Floo Network to Hogwarts right away and Remus wouldn't know what to do to stop him.

Tonks arrived right on time for their shift at the Ministry that night and she had just taken a seat when the door opened again, this time to let in a couple of sturdy gingers carrying two broomsticks and two heavy trunks.

'Evening, gentlemen,' said Fred, laying his things down and running a hand through his windswept hair.

'And lady,' added George with a smile.

'Is that the only other option?' Tonks asked mockingly, but felt that the word lady associated with her was as appropriate as the name Nymphadora.

Remus and Sirius frowned, exchanging a look.

'You know when the teachers tell you to do homework, they don't actually mean to do it at home,' she stated eyeing their trunks. 'I know 'cause I asked.'

'What work?' asked Fred grinning widely and walking over to get a handful of Floo powder.

'And what home?' asked George. 'Our permanent residence is still the Burrow, thank you very much.'

'Soon to be changed to the 93 Diagon Alley,' added Fred, throwing the Floo in the fireplace and watching the green flames for a moment.

'Anyway, we just passed by to get a cuppa –'

'– and an Ashwinder if we're lucky. See, need the eggs for Love Potions. But then we'll be in our merry way,' Fred finished wiping his hands.

'Hang on.' Remus stood up. 'What's happened?' he questioned in what Tonks knew to be his professorial tone.

'Long story short, we've had enough,' started George.

'We left Hogwarts and we're not coming back,' Fred informed them.

'Don't need good marks when we've got our own shop, do we?' George asked, leaving for the kitchen.

'N.E.W.T.S. don't concern us. We already have jobs!' Fred reasoned.

They heard the kettle whistling and George returned a minute later sipping on a mug. 'The plan was to stick around a bit longer.'

'But we were distracting the High Idiocy so Harry could talk to you,' Fred nodded to Sirius.

'How did that turn out by the way?' asked George.

'Fine, I s'pose, but he left in a hurry.'

'He wasn't caught, was he?' Remus asked. After Dumbledore, if Harry had been expelled ...

'Dunno, we were a bit preoccupied flying out of the school,' answered Fred.

'Left Lee a couple Nifflers for more mayhem just in case,' said George.

'The portable swamp is brilliant, I am sure Messrs Moony and Padfoot would be proud,' Fred grinned widely.

Leaving school just like that, what were they thinking? However, Remus had to admit that the boys had a point when it came to school marks ... and that he would have loved to see just how they had done it. 'Does your mother know of this?' he questioned carefully.

'Nope.' Fred shook his head.

'Not unless the toad's owl's passed us on the way to Ottery St. Catchpole.'

'Don't see how we can keep it a secret when we arrive home anyhow.'

Tonks was flabbergasted watching the boys. Thank Merlin she had never had a professor as bad as Umbridge, enough that made her leave the school; she would never have entered the Office if that were the case.

'May as well have some snack while we're here,' said George.

'Being caught meant we had to bring our departure forward and we only had packed Canary Creams ...'

'Bloody nuisance having to turn into a canary every time we wanted to eat. Think I still have feathers in my –'

'Shh!' Fred knelt before the mantel. 'No, not yet ... Better leave it be.'

'So? What's there for dinner?'

Now that the boys finally slowed down a bit, Remus took the chance to glance at his watch.

'Merlin's beard, we'll be late,' he told Tonks and she jumped on her feet to accompany him to the door.

'Good luck with your mum,' she said to them, winking and waving her hand on her way out.

'Cheers!' They said in unison, returning her wave.

* * *

><p>Mid May found them preparing for a different Death Eater's house: Alecto Carrow's. Since the Order didn't have enough people to follow the Death Eaters around at all times, Dumbledore opted to watch them after working hours which was when it was more likely for them to pursue any activity regarding Voldemort and whatever he had them doing. Remus and Tonks flew to her house with him on the lead as he had been there before in an Order mission, sixteen years ago. He had told her that Sirius had got Alecto then and he had observed everything, thus he knew a place where they could watch Carrow without being noticed.<p>

Tonks had disguised herself with a spiked black hair and dark blue eyes, looking much more like Andromeda's daughter and Sirius's cousin than she usually did. However, Mad-Eye's second invisibility cloak did come in handy; even if Remus couldn't use it to hide himself whilst flying, they used it to approach the house as they cast the spells to conceal the spot they would stay for the next few hours until Alecto Carrow went to sleep.

The sun was just coming down, but from where they were, they had a nice view of the drawing-room. For now, Alecto seemed to be enjoying a hot cup of tea while reading the Prophet. No doubt that their kind thought it to be the best newspaper out there.

'So, tell me. How did Sirius get her?' Tonks asked with a small grin.

'Well,' Remus began clearing his throat, 'he disguised himself a bit, but ... he always had a way with women, it was the sort of thing that came naturally to him. So he ... seduced her. You remember him, he was handsome; it wasn't difficult. Met her in a pub one day after the parents died. We all knew it was likely for them to end up drunk, Dedalus entertained her brother with some tricks and he went after her. In a way, I actually felt sorry for her, she had just lost her family and was even younger than we were, but then I remembered the Muggles she tortured and ... the feeling faded quite fast after that.'

He chuckled along with Tonks. Only him would feel sorry for a Death Eater.

'It didn't take long and she was bringing him here. The Order followed and as soon as they entered Sirius roped her. Demanded information on what Voldemort had been doing, what they knew about the Order, what were their plans ... She didn't break though. But as we got in, we were able to find a few well-hidden parchments with information and in all the mess, another Death Eater came in and Sirius left her tied there. Even after Dedalus left, her brother kept drinking so ... she was there for quite a while before he found her.'

For however long Alecto Carrow had been left on her own, roped after being tortured, Tonks knew it wasn't as long as the time she spent torturing Muggles. It was people like her that had left her parents terrified to let her play outside then. If she did that to innocent Muggles, what would she do if she caught the offspring of a Muggle-born and a blood traitor? Sirius had done well, though obviously not well enough otherwise, she wouldn't be here now. Tonks bet, or at least hoped, that Sirius and his looks still haunted that woman's dreams. Though her memory of fifteen years back wasn't as good as the one from when she saw her cousin just half hour before, she knew that Sirius being good-looking had been a blessing to the Order then. Would it ever be again nowadays?

'He's still handsome, isn't he, even after Azkaban?'

Typical. Ever since Hogwarts, Sirius had had the girls crawling at his feet, sighing dreamily at the sight of him. Why did he ever think this would be any different? Even after twelve years being forced to either relive his worse experiences or obsess over Peter and how he would kill him, Sirius was still enough good-looking to catch Tonks's eyes and steal the girl Remus could never have. Had it really been a blessing to have befriended Sirius on the train to Hogwarts?

'I suppose you've fallen for him then. He always got the women.' It was clear just how bitter he was, but he did not care. Remus did not care one bit. Of all women, she was the only one he wanted, the only one he had ever wanted ... and she had fallen for his best friend.

_For him?_ After all the afternoons she went to the Grimmauld Place just to be with him, after his fight with Sirius when she took his side, after all the little clues she had left for him to collect, after the mission they faced against the werewolves, after her asking to take off his clothes – because she had been thinking about it – instead of just his cloak, after his birthday present when she arranged for them to go out by themselves, after being his main partner for almost a year within the Order ... Remus had thought she had fallen for Sirius. Sirius, her cousin nonetheless.

'You'd know perfectly well who I've fallen for, if you weren't too busy feeling sorry for yourself to notice,' Tonks sputtered angrily, throwing out the window all her will to wait a little longer. After _that_, she had to tell him.

Him. Not her handsome, wealth cousin Sirius; not her prodigious, intelligent Auror partner Savage and not any of the several other members of the Order with extraordinary futures upon them. No. Nymphadora Tonks had fallen in love with him. The old, poor, dangerous werewolf who had nothing to offer her. Remus couldn't help himself, at that moment, despite the war, despite his lack of gold, despite all the suffering in his life, the world was the brightest place he could ever think of. In fact, he was surprised not to see rainbows all over the sky. His eyes widened and an idiotic grin came to his lips. He could produce the most powerful Patronus ever and he wouldn't even care that it assumed the shape of a wolf. Somehow, the universe with its mysterious works had made that clever, brave and funny woman love him and had made of him the happiest man on Earth.

For a split second, with the way Remus was beaming at her, Tonks thought he would pull her to him and kiss her, but on the following instant, his grin had turned into a grimace. Either because Alecto Carrow had spotted them or because she had just died for those were the only possibilities she could think of that would stop him from kissing her then. A shiver went down her spine. Dead people couldn't feel shivers and glancing at the house, Carrow still seemed focused on her Prophet so ... what could possibly be the problem?

'What's wrong?'

If he had indeed cast a Patronus, it would have lived longer than the sheer bliss in him. The other Order members weren't the only ones with extraordinary futures upon them; Tonks with all her brilliance had a bright future before her and at that precise moment, there was nothing that stopped her from achieving said future. There would be something however, if she had a werewolf tainting her image, especially now with Umbridge being so high in Fudge's graces. She was amazing, Mad-Eye was proof of it, the best Auror of his time wouldn't choose just anyone as his protégée. Dora could climb the positions within the Office until she became the Head of the Department. However, if she was in a relationship with a werewolf, she would find all sorts of obstacles and unfair accusations thrown at her to stop her from achieving that position. Remus couldn't do that to her. Not to mention the looks she would get on the street, the disgust on people's face when they realised that she was involved with him, with his kind. People would spit on her and not even lower their voices when they said what they thought of werewolves and now their attempts to lead a somewhat normal life. He was a registered lycanthrope, the one who got thrown out of Hogwarts after transforming into a full-fledged werewolf right before his students. Everyone knew. His life was tainted, but how could he ever do that to such a brilliant woman? She didn't deserve that. Frowning at her question and looking at her with a quizzical expression, Remus feigned misunderstanding.

'What do you mean?'

'I meant what – is – wrong. You look like you've seen a ghost or something.'

'Oh, no, nothing's wrong, I'm fine,' he lied, pulling the corner of his lips upwards in a perfect fake pleased smile and moving his eyes to the house.

Tonks waited for him to elaborate, but as he didn't, she prompted him.

'So ...?'

'So what?' Remus asked, furrowing his brows somewhat.

'I just told you I bloody love you and you haven't given me any answer,' she stormed. 'Just left me here wondering what's going through your head.'

'Oh.' Remus shook his head looking amused. It was times like this that he knew he couldn't thank Merlin enough for all the years that taught him to lie so well. Even if all the words he was going to say were true, he just wanted to let all his heartache out and allow himself to be miserable, but he could not, so he kept the smile. 'You're a lovely girl, Dora. You really are. But you can't have fallen for me. I am not for you. We're worlds apart. It wouldn't work.'

'You calling me a liar now? Is that it?' she asked exasperated.

'I'm just saying that you may not know your feelings that well,' he said calmly.

'And I'm just saying that I love you!' Tonks exclaimed. 'I'm not mistaken and I'm not confused.'

'All right.' Remus nodded refusing to look at her. Blimey, when was that woman going to bed? He needed to get out of there before Tonks jumped on him and regretted it for the rest of her life.

'All right! Are you going to bloody kiss me or what?'

Narrowing his eyes under the pretext of checking what Carrow was doing, he answered 'And why would I do that? I'm a werewolf, Tonks, you don't want to be involved with –'

'YES, I KNOW you're a werewolf! You won't shut your mouth about it. And why not? Why the bloody hell not?' she enquired. 'I've seen you turn! I've healed you afterwards! I know what I'm getting myself into!'

Remus gave a light, humourless laugh.

'You don't know how wrong you are if you think that being with a werewolf comes down to healing wounds after a full moon,' he murmured.

'Then tell me!' Tonks demanded. 'Tell me what else it would be. Tell me how you feel. Tell me what goes on inside that head of yours because I don't know, Remus! You tell me about the war, we talk about Sirius –'

'Careful.'

With their protective spells, his warn was so ridiculous that she disregarded it completely.

'– about the stupid decisions the Ministry's taking, but you don't get personal! We've been friends for a year! I love you and I still don't know how you like your tea or what's your favourite colour!'

She wasn't even making sense. She was right, he hadn't got too personal with her, especially lately around the full moon with his wolf getting rather agitated in being near her. But how could she say she loved him when she had just admitted not to know him? That argument wasn't going to take them anywhere so Remus saw no other way and proceeded to not acknowledge her questions. He kept his eyes on the Death Eater not far from them and avoided her eyes at all costs.

'Tell me about your life. Tell me about your parents, how did they die?'

She thought his father was dead. Good, the less she knew about him, the better.

'There's nothing to tell you,' he stated. 'Can we just please not talk about it?'

'_Not talk about it?_' Tonks repeated. 'I told you I love you and you haven't given me a reason for us to be apart when you feel the same way.'

'I never said that.'

'Then say it!' she dared. 'Look into my eyes and tell me you don't love me!'

At long last, he looked at her.

'I don—' Remus started, but stopped himself averting his eyes from hers. 'This is ridiculous. We cannot be in a relationship, Nymphadora!'

'Don't you dare Nymphadora me,' she hissed pointing a finger to his face. 'I'm not dropping this until you give me a decent reason –'

'I'm a werewolf,' he stated eyeing the ground they were seated.

'That's **not** a decent reason!'

Remus let his breath out through his nose and kept his eyes on Alecto Carrow, refusing to say a single word as Tonks continued with her snarky remarks throughout the night, disrooting some grass from time to time. She was too young and optimistic to understand and too stubborn to take his word for it. Therefore, he gave up trying to make her see then, he just hoped he could save her.

The hours dragged by with them watching the Death Eater wherever she went inside the house. Yet, she finally went to bed and they flew back to the Headquarters. In the kitchen he allowed her to sign first the scroll signalling the end of their shift, but as he suspected, Tonks didn't leave, but rather crossed her arms over her chest looking positively irate, blocked the doorway out of the kitchen and waited for him to finish.

'Are you going to continue to refuse to talk to me?' she demanded the instant he turned to her.

'I have to go to bed.'

'So you can go be sad for not being a relationship with me? Is that it?'

'Have a good night, Tonks.'

Remus vanished into thin air, appearing in his bedroom upstairs. He remained silent, pinching the bridge of his nose and waiting until he heard her grunt and then the door closing. She couldn't understand; she didn't live in his world which in hindsight was a good thing for she did not belong in it. With his quill in his hand, Remus climbed down the stairs back to the kitchen. Dora would be hurt now, but what he was about to do was only to save her from a much worse heartache in the future.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2:** Aaaand that's the huge chapter! Thanks so much for reading and please, leave a review down here, yeah? I'll love you forever. :D  
>This is the longest and probably my favourite chapter so far, you can guess why. XD I had so many feels writing this one, especially the last bit and I thought I'd share some with you, from Remus's bio because I had to re-read it to make sure it was all canon as I remembered. So this is my favourite bit: 'Remus's immediate response was a happiness he had never experienced in his life'. Not the fact that he could go to Hogwarts and learn magic, not seven years of freedom with the Marauders, no, the happiest Remus had ever been in his life, was with Tonks. And I should add that this happiness he had never experienced in his life was before they shagged, before they even kissed, it was literally just the knowledge that she loved him that made him the happiest he had ever been. Yeah ... I had to share, you're welcome! ^^<p> 


	41. 40 Five Minutes

**A/N:** Hello, everyone! Here is another chapter! Hooray! So, I know a lot of you really like the title of my fic, Bubble-gum Pink Moon, but lately I've been toying with Vivere Militare Est, which is latim for 'To Live is to Fight' and I've been thinking of changing, but I don't know since it's been known around here as the current title for so long now. What do you guys think?

Also I've also edited this week a couple more chapters from the ones from the beginng that I told you all I'd finish forever ago and I'm sorry they're not done yet. I know it's getting embarrassing how long I'm taking, but they will get done, I promise you that. The list is updated on chapter 1.

I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I love it! :D As you usual, thank so, so much for all your reviews. I know I always say that, but I mean it, they mean and a lot and would you be a dear and review this chapter too? Thanks and enjoy!

lupinfamily4ever: I feel exactly the same way about Remus. :)

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 40: Five Minutes<strong>

Three whole days had passed since their argument at Alecto Carrow's garden and Remus had refused to speak a word to Tonks in the meantime. Every night when she laid her head on her pillow, she would feel the anger and the tension of the situation between them, even if they were miles apart. Tonks arrived twenty minutes earlier at the Hall of the Prophecy that night such was her eagerness to talk to him. She met Kingsley at the circular room and he informed her that there was the indistinct sound of steps earlier, but as he and Emmeline hadn't heard it ever since, he agreed to leave her on her own for a little while until Remus arrived.

Finally at five past nine, she heard the door opening and made her way to him. With her wand pointed directly to his chest, she asked 'What did you told me when we arrived at the Headquarters last time?'

'I am not Remus Lupin.'

'_Impedimenta!_' Tonks lost no time thinking over who could be before her. Whoever it was had given her the advantage of being able to attack first and she would not waste it.

The man was unable to move, but she still felt her heart beating fast inside her chest.

'Who are you and what are you doing here?' she demanded holding her wand tight in her hand.

'Come see for yourself,' the man said calmly.

Silently lighting her wand, Tonks stepped closer, illuminating his features with her white light until she could see the square jaw and thick, straw-coloured hair of her Order colleague.

'Sturgis?'

'Lupin asked me to come in his place,' Sturgis explained. 'He said he wouldn't be able to come and –'

'When was our first meeting in the current Headquarters?' she enquired.

'Early July,' he answered unsure of the exact date. 'About a week after Dumbledore called us all to the first meeting at Hogwarts. He needed the time to protect Grimmauld Place after Sirius offered.'

Tonks nodded then with a flick of her wand, muttered the counter-curse to set him free.

'Sorry about the ...' She gestured to him.

'Don't worry about it,' Sturgis said, flexing him arms. 'You were right to check.' He started walking back to the 97th corridor and she followed him. 'Lupin mentioned that you already are friends with Savage, the new recruit.'

'Yeah, I brought him to the Order,' Tonks informed him. 'We're partners in the Office.'

'I know,' he added with a small nod. 'He said you two would be much more comfortable taking shifts with each other and he asked me if I could pair with him instead.'

'He WHAT?'

'You didn't know?' he asked frowning heavily. 'I thought this had been your idea and you simply didn't want to ask ... Odd. Anyhow, I couldn't get a hold of Savage earlier today so I came in his place, but rest assured that I'll talk to him soon and by next Saturday, he'll be your partner and I'll take my shifts with Lupin. It really isn't a problem. The boy really seemed quite uneasy with me ... but then again, ever since I returned from Azkaban people seem a bit uneasy around me,' he chuckled awkwardly.

The last bit of his say was mere murmurs in Tonks's ears. Her gaze was lost in the corridor in front of them. Remus had gone all the way to cut their partnership without batting an eye. The year they had spent getting to know each other seemed to have meant nothing to him. She knew he had been troubled about what had happened on Monday, but she had no idea he would do this. Not that she had a problem with taking shifts with Savage, but she had a lot of problems with not taking shifts with Remus. Had it really been that bad? Sirius had said he liked her ... and with the way he smiled at her when she first told him about her feelings for him left no doubt. He had been happy about it and there was only one reason for being as happy as he had been when someone confessed their love: he loved her back.

Remus just kept repeating that he was awerewolf. Well, she knew he was a werewolf for almost a year now. Did he really think that saying it one more time would change how she felt? _Oh, yeah, I remembered ... Sorry. Cheers!_ Tonks exhaled heavily. She wasn't going to give up because of that stupid reason. All she had to do was let him know that him being a lycanthrope made no difference whatsoever for her. Once they could actually have that conversation and talk it over like two adults, he would have no choice but to understand and then ... Tonks found herself actually smiling at the thought of being with him.

At five in the morning, when Moody arrived with Mundungus for their shift, she and Sturgis were finally free to go.

'You can go on,' she said once they arrived at the circular room. 'I forgot to ask Mad-Eye something,' she lied, pointing her thumb back to the Hall of the Prophecy, but in truth, her eyes had caught a glimpse of the Ever-Locked Room.

Sturgis nodded and went to take the stairs.

Stepping closer to the door and unsure of what she was doing, Tonks tried the knob. It came as no surprise that the door didn't move. Only the Unspeakables knew how to open the Love Chamber. Still, she wished it was simpler. If only the power in that room was something she could grasp between her fingers ... Voldemort would find himself being as lovely as a cupid on Valentine's Day. The war would be over the instant she could get within a feet of the Dark Lord and all she had to do was morph into one of his Death Eaters. And with the war won, Remus would have no reason to stay away from her, he would be able to live a life as normal as possible and with her by his side. Making him see that their relationship had no more problems than the ones between any other two people who love each other would be so much easier. If only ... Tonks sighed, stepping away from the door and Disapparating to the Grimmauld Place.

At the Headquarters, she went straight to the kitchen to get the schedule for Guard Duty for the upcoming weeks. Much as she had feared, Remus's name was not beside hers, it was always paired with Sturgis. Fuming, she threw the scroll upon the counter and left. How could he do this to her? Simply change her schedule without a word to see if she approved, without even informing her? Remus simply let her figure out when Sturgis arrived for the shift. He was making plans for them without her consent, without asking her whether she approved it or not. Still, Tonks tried to push it away so she could get some sleep before she had to head for the Ministry. The result was a troubled few hours of sleep with her dreaming of Remus changing all her life, from her shifts at the Office to her own address and she argued with him livid that he had got rid of the great flat her father had helped her find.

Later that night, when they were all gathered at the Grimmauld Place's kitchen, Tonks kept her arms folded over her chest, tightening a muscle in her jaw every time she cast a glance towards Remus, who was finding apparently too easy to ignore her, despite her violent violet hair.

'Spotted Malfoy at the Ministry last night,' Doge brought forth. 'Seemed to be getting the lift to the lower levels, but I reckon I sent him back to the Atrium with a couple questions.'

'I'm not sure they worked all that well,' Kingsley said. 'Emmeline and I heard footsteps there after we arrived. High likely to be him or another Death Eater.'

'Yaxley wasn't home,' growled Mad-Eye. 'I was watching his house all night.'

'Would've helped to have someone with me there after Kings left who can hear better than I can,' remarked Tonks glaring at Remus, but he only offered her a short glance in return.

'And you didn't get from Malfoy what he was doing down there?' Remus asked quickly eyeing Doge who shook his head.

'"Business with the Minister," he said,' the older man answered.

'I don't suppose they would try to steal the prophecy with any of us there,' Dumbledore told them. 'Nevertheless, we mustn't let our guard down.'

Mad-Eye seemed pleased with his statement and the next minute, the meeting was ended and Molly dashed to the cooker to start on dinner, but before she had even arrived there, Remus was out of the room. Tonks exhaled heavily, not hiding her displeasure whilst glaring at his back.

'What happened between you two?' asked Sirius taking the recently vacant seat beside her.

Sucking in a deep breath, she raised her eyebrows at her cousin. It had indeed been quite obvious. Good. All the more difficult for Remus to continue ignoring her.

'I told him,' she replied taking a piece of spare parchment on the table. 'We were watching Alecto Carrow and I ended up telling him I love him and he said I didn't know what I was feeling, I insisted and he said we can't be together 'cause he's a werewolf. I kept insisting and now he's running away from me like spiders from a basilisk. We're not even together during Guard Duty anymore.'

Tonks didn't realise that Sirius would give anything to be able to leave the house and have Guard Duty whereas she was complaining about it. There was a layer of pity in his eyes when he looked at her.

'Right old berk, he is,' her cousin commented thinking of how he had defended him in Harry's eyes not long ago, but now Remus seemed to be acting just like he and James had when they were teenagers. 'I'll talk with him for you,' he promised her.

'Thanks,' she said with a small smile when Molly began serving dinner.

The Order was in a much better mood now that they were all eating or perhaps it was the fact that Fred and George were now with them, presenting all the products of their new shop in spite of their mother's glare. The beef casserole finished quite fast, but before it did, Tonks was sure to put some aside in a bowl for she knew Remus would be hungry later and didn't want him to cook or worse, eat the leftovers of something Kreacher had made for them a few days before. She was counting on him granting the act of kindness to Molly Weasley, that way he wouldn't find some stupid noble reason not to eat it and starve himself. So long he ate, she would be happy.

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><p>Sirius could only fulfil his promise by the end of the week when he found his friend in the kitchen early in the morning with a glass of elderflower wine between his hands.<p>

'Careful there, mate, or you'll beat me on the earliest I've started drinking,' Sirius teased. 'But then again, I found myself drinking at seven once.'

Remus looked at him warningly, sucked in a deep breath and let it out through his nose, but eventually offered him a small smirk. He knew all too well that the only reason Sirius had been drinking at seven in the morning was because he had been drinking all night.

'I have no intentions of beating you, Padfoot.'

'Brilliant! Because we both know that your score of girls is abysmal,' he said getting some of the burnt sausages in a pan on the cooker. 'Kreacher had a better approach at these than you had with them.'

Remus busied himself with taking another sip of wine and said nothing. Dora had told him then; it was the only possible reason he could see Sirius bringing that subject now after they had been living together for a year.

'So,' Sirius started after having eaten a good part of his sausages, 'what're you going to do about my little cousin? Don't be a berk and break her heart or I'll have to hex you. Don't worry, mate, I'll threaten her too. I'm not letting her break your heart either.'

'The little cousin you were saying has great legs not long ago?' Remus remarked shaking his head.

'Well, obviously, she doesn't care about me being devilishly good-looking,' Sirius smirked, putting another piece of sausage in his mouth.

'She doesn't really know what she feels about me,' he started, eyes lost upon the table. 'We've been friends for a good while now; women tend to get confused when a man treats her well.'

'What do you reckon she meant when she said she fucking loves you then?' he asked annoyed.

'Convenience.'

'Oh, right …' Sirius said in tones of mock understanding. 'I knew English was bound to change after 12 years in Azkaban, but I'd no idea love and convenience _were now synonyms_,' he finished, glaring at him.

'You have to admit I'd be a pretty convenient boyfriend to her, Padfoot,' Remus started. 'Dumbledore has us busier and busier, Fudge is nagging the Aurors to do useless searches so all the adrenaline she used to get from her job, she would get now with a dangerous werewolf for a boyfriend. Furthermore, one who's in the Order so all her time spent on duty could also count as going out.'

By the time he finished, Sirius had wide eyes and slightly parted lips showing the last bits of his half chewed sausages.

'So she said she loves you and you think she wants to use you?' he asked after swallowing.

'No,' Remus stated promptly, lowering his glass. 'Not intentionally.'

He had no doubts that there was something genuine in storming and spilling her feelings out at him when he had thought she had her eyes on his best friend. No. No matter what he said, deep down Remus knew that she really loved him. At that moment at least.

'It'll pass … Once I stay away long enough, she'll move on.'

'Move on?' Sirius questioned in disbelief, pushing his empty plate away from himself. 'Lily said she'd rather go out with the giant squid than Prongs and did he ever move on?'

'It's different.'

'Different how, Moony?' he demanded. 'James loved Lily. Tonks loves you!'

Remus felt his heart tighten. It seemed that both of them thought he didn't want it. That he didn't want _her_. But how could he not? She was enchanting. Being around her left him wanting to smile at the walls simply because he was with her. The world seemed a brighter place whenever he heard her words of optimism or caught a glimpse of her colourful hair. He wanted her. He wanted her around at all times to lighten the weight on his shoulders with her smile. He could not have her, however. It was an illusion to think she would brighten his life when he lived a lie within the Order and the Grimmauld Place. His daily life wasn't like that and he would only darken her. How could he lay a finger on her knowing that her life wouldn't be as happy with him around?

'I'm not good for her.' And James was good for Lily.

'Moony, you do remember what I said when Harry was here, don't you?' he asked, gesturing to the fireplace. 'James was an arrogant little berk who jinxed Slytherins for the fun of it, but _he changed_. We were the berks then, not you! He became more like you later, focused and-and caring about the bigger picture, concerned about the future, what he would do with his life. That's what you always were, mate! Tonks can see that, all right? You're a good man, like James was.'

Remus swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.

'You don't underst—'

'Look!' Sirius stood up. 'If you don't believe me, believe her, yeah? She's not the little kid we used to visit, she's old enough now to know what's good for her and what isn't. She's joined the Order and she became an Auror when her parents weren't so keen of having their only daughter risking her life. She's made some good decisions. Ask her out. And if you need any gold I've got piles and piles that need to be put to use or they'll start growing mould.' He walked over to the door, but paused before leaving the room. 'Don't be a berk.'

Remus sustained his eyes for a second until Sirius left and gazed at the bottom of his glass. He didn't understand. No one did. He was the only one who had suffered the prejudice, he was the only one who knew how bad it truly was. He wished it was as simple as they all seemed to believe it was. He shut his eyes close for a moment then downed the rest of his wine. He couldn't do it, he simply couldn't. She would be happier like this in due course and the least he could do was not ruin her happiness.

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><p>'Dickhead,' Tonks muttered under her breath when she finally told Savage of what had happened for them to be sharing shifts now. 'He's being a right dickhead for changing my schedule without my permission.'<p>

'Dickhead indeed,' Savage confirmed. 'Not really a –'

'_What?_'

Savage blinked, trying to see her face in the nearly dark room.

'Don't let me hear you call him a dickhead again!' Tonks exclaimed. 'He's only doing this because he thinks –'

'Fine. I was just –' as she continued to unmistakeably glare at him, Savage lowered his voice, 'agreeing with you?'

Tonks exhaled heavily, gazing at the tiny spheres in front of them and the silence stretched itself whilst she fumed quietly.

'If it makes you feel any better,' he said at last, 'I'm much more comfortable with you than with Podmore.'

She smiled amusedly, eyeing the wand in her hand.

'Nothing against him,' he began to justify. 'I mean, he's all right, but … I just lit my candle in the Order and the bloke has been around since the first time around. He's survived the war, he was caught doing Guard Duty and he went to Azkaban for the Order without even getting a trial so he wouldn't expose any of the secrets –' Savaged sighed.

Tonks chuckled at that, it would be only too easy to feel like a no one under that perspective, and he hadn't even mentioned all the missions from twenty years ago, but that wasn't the whole.

'Well, I know they did a lot back then, but … there aren't that many of them left,' she pointed out. 'They aren't enough now. They need us.' She smiled reassuringly. 'Voldemort is gathering more and more followers, creatures, giants … And they know they need us. Don't feel like that.'

Savage looked at her sideways and gave a short nod. When the battle finally came, they would be proven necessary, perhaps even more as the pair of them were fully trained Aurors.

With Remus avoiding Tonks more and more, time passed. Afraid that she would come to the Headquarters out of the blue as she used to, he would lock himself in his room all day long leaving only for Guard Duty, visits to the library, toilet and meals. Even Mrs Black seemed to have lessened her use of the word half-breed in her screams due to the simple fact that she had not caught a glimpse of him in a good while. Kreacher would disappear for longer and longer and Sirius didn't have it in him to keep looking for the House-elf when he had a nice bottle of Firewhisky on the table. On the rare meeting Remus and Tonks would see each other, she wouldn't lose the opportunity to glare at him and make snarky remarks until the first of June arrived and with it, a full moon.

She wouldn't leave his mind on that day, as much as he tried to think of several other things. The wolf was growling louder and louder in his head as though expressing his deepest instincts, he wanted her. He wanted to kiss her, to hug her, to appreciate every inch of wonder that was Nymphadora Tonks and tell her that she was the most beautiful woman that had ever entered his life. He pictured himself with her, losing track of time in her smell, in her kisses ... It was only when he felt his trousers tightening that Remus stood up and swallowed another glass of Wolfsbane Potion. The herbal taste had him shuddering and sent the blood back to the other parts of his body. He wasn't going to deal with it thinking of her, it wasn't exactly a gentlemanly thing to do. If it wasn't so close to the moonrise, he would be relieved, but the simplest thought of all the pain he would have to go through left his heart slamming his ribs as if it could leave his body and prevent all the future suffering.

A bit after half past eight, Remus was screaming in agony, the proof he didn't need that he could not stop the pain. Any of it. If he could take all the ache Tonks would feel in the hypothesis of a relationship with him and transform it in physical pain, he would, he would take it all and let her be happy with him. It was no use to think about it though, he had just turned into the monster he knew he was and all the emotional pain would remain if he were to surrender to her request of living the fantasy.

Tonks arrived at the Grimmauld Place early in the morning after a sleepless night. To her relief the first person she saw was Sirius asleep in the kitchen reeking of alcohol and murmuring something about being free. If her cousin was passed out like that on the table, Remus couldn't be too bad. As silently as she could muster, Tonks climbed the stairs to his room and knocked on the door once.

'Remus?' she called in a whisper.

_No._ Remus was still in his underwear, finishing patching up his wounds when he heard the knock. For a split second he panicked, unsure of what he should do first, but decided to swathe his chest.

'Remus, are you in there?' she said a bit louder. 'You all right?'

'Don't –'

Remus had stood up and was putting his robes on when Tonks opened the door and saw his long white legs as well as the blood coming from his left forearm.

'Rem, you're bleeding!' she exclaimed stepping closer to him.

'That's what happens when you're forced to transform twice in a night,' he remarked bitterly, adjusting his robes on his body.

'Lemme help you with th—'

But Remus raised his hand to stop her.

'Would you give me a little bit of privacy?'

'I just came to see if you were all right,' she replied.

'Well, I'm fine, you've seen me,' he pointed out, 'and more than what I'd have liked you to. Now if you please.' He gestured towards the door; the blood on his forearm flowing down to his fist.

'You've shown up at my flat all bloodied right after you turned back, remember?' Tonks glared at him. 'I've seen more than just your legs,' she added knowing that she needed no more proofs after he stated that he was _fine_.

'Still, I –'

'Please, Remus, just …' she sighed. 'I'm here for you, just tell me what you need.'

'I need rest,' he told her avoiding her eyes and trying not to show all the pain in his bones at that moment. 'I've dealt with this all my life, _Tonks_. I can patch my own wounds, thank you very much.' Remus wrapped his fingers around his cut to stop the blood that was starting to drip onto the floor.

'Of course you can, Remus! But –'

'Tonks!' Remus yelped gazing into her eyes. 'Get – out.' His words were cold, maybe this way she would finally realise that he was not the man who she thought he was and leave him for good. Reaching for his wand, he held it tightly hoping it would be enough. 'Please.'

Licking her lips, she let the sorrow come to her features. As much as it hurt her to see him wounded, the emotional pain on his face panged her heart and the wand in his hand was threat enough. He didn't want her there. Or at least part of him didn't. Tonks knew that he had several years of experience in healing himself, a few waves of his wand and he would feel much better. Nodding, she reached to the inside of her robes and got a card.

'It's my birthday on the 10th,' she said in a small voice in case he had forgotten. 'I'm having some friends over to listen to music and eat some cake. Mum's baking.' The corner of her lips curled in a smile and she put the card on the desk near the door. 'Come? Please?'

Remus gazed out of the window and to the square where the morning sun had just started painting the trees with yellow. He heard Tonks sigh and close the door behind her after she left, he heard even when she tripped over the last step of the stairs, shaking his head in slight amusement. He sat back on his bed, still holding his bleeding arm and now there was a small pool of blood forming on the floor. All he wanted was to let her hold him, heal him, comfort him, but he could not. He would be giving her false hope and she did not deserve it. Nothing could ever happen between them and his momentary weakness was not reason enough to let her think that they could be something more than friends one day.

Finally, he put the bandage on the last of his open wounds and disrobed himself to get into bed, but as he lied there, the card Tonks had left on his desk kept drawing his eyes to that spot and Remus gave in to his heart's desire, summoning it. The card was simple, just the usual invitation for her party and the address of her flat in Castle Lane accompanied by a picture of her with her bubble-gum pink hair and his favourite smile. He recalled his birthday party three months before and was sure that hers would be much louder and so much better. Just how she liked and deserved. The Dora on the picture folded her arms over her chest and Remus wasn't sure if it had been her intention all along or if it had been the nature of his feelings for her, but her breasts looked rather nice. He placed the card against the candle on his bedside table. Remus knew he could not and would not go, let alone buy her a gift, but it was still an amazing last sight to have before he fell asleep and an even better one to wake up to hours later.

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><p>Between her busy schedule with the Order, her job and now the preparations to her birthday party, time passed and before long Tonks woke up and her calendar marked: 10 June. Her immediate response was a wide grin before she jumped out of bed to start her day. At the Ministry, she received several happy birthday wishes and quite a few hugs. Her day went on as usual, but with most of her favourites, including a quick lunch at her parents' with Andromeda cooking a chicken lasagne for her.<p>

'A pity we don't get to have ice cream like you and I used to when you were little,' said Ted to which her mother glared at him.

'It's summer!' Tonks reminded them. 'We can get ice cream any of these days.'

'_After_ lunch, mind,' Andromeda replied then glared at them while adding 'you've had enough ice cream for lunch for a lifetime.'

Ted laughed and Tonks joined him. Her father didn't have that belly for nothing.

'Speaking of sweets,' she started then asked with a grin 'Mum, can you switch the strawberries for cherries?' Remus would love the surprise.

Frowning, Andromeda stopped midway to bring her fork to her mouth.

'And why would I do that?' her mother questioned carefully.

'Oh, it's just something that Remus and I did,' she answered shaking her head to show her that it wasn't a big deal. 'On Sirius's birthday, we baked it for him, but I couldn't find strawberries so we used cherries. Molly even baked it like that for his birthday last March.'

Andromeda still didn't seem convinced, but Ted held her hand.

'It's just the fruit, Dromeda,' he reasoned. 'It's still the same chocolate cake. Doesn't really make a difference.'

'But your mother –'

'My mother doesn't have to know.'

Ted turned to his daughter and winked. Anything to his little girl especially on her birthday.

'Fine,' Andromeda sighed, shrugging under her husband's gaze, 'but you'll have to buy some cherries on your way home and I'll have to find something to do with the strawberries. You could've said something when I said I'd bake it for you,' she added eyeing her daughter.

'Sorry.' Tonks grinned at her father. What would she do without him?

At the end of the afternoon, Liv arrived and helped her prepare the final arrangements while filling her in on what had happened on the Remus department over the last few weeks as best as she could without telling her friend of his affliction. Her parents came in not long afterwards with the cake just as she had asked and soon her guests started to arrived, colleagues from the Ministry, old friends from Hogwarts and a few people from the Order, though neither of them ever mentioned the organisation. As time passed, it was harder and harder to hide her discontentment to see the next guest coming in rather than a prematurely lined face she loved, but she knew she was doing a decent cover up by frowning surprised at the new present or moving to hug whoever it was behind the door. The Weird Sisters' albums played at quite a high volume thanks to a Silencing Charm and finger food and drinks floated all around the flat.

'Did you see the last Tornadoes match?' Tonks asked to which all her friends shook their heads.

'I saw the result on the Prophet,' Liv replied.

'They crushed the Catapults,' Tonks remarked. '610 to 140. They put together an amazing team, no wonder they're the champions.'

'The Catapults never stood a chance according to my father,' said Finn with his arm around Rachel's waist.

'And the Magpies?' questioned Lucy always outside the Quidditch news.

'Fourth place,' answered Liv.

'The Tornadoes' Chasers are wonderful and it's almost like their Seeker was procrastinating so they could score more,' Tonks added, sipping on her Butterbeer. 'We were just lucky when Campbell caught the Snitch before the other team was a hundred and fifty on the lead.'

They all sighed, shaking their heads on the impossibility over the other teams win the League.

'And the wedding, Rach?' enquired Lucy. 'Everything ready, is it?'

'No,' answered Rachel after having exhaled heavily. 'Less than three weeks and we still have problems with the flowers.'

'The bloke with the gardenias has owled you yet?' asked Finn frowning somewhat.

'He did, yeah.' She nodded to her fiancé. 'That bit is in order now, the only problem it's the dressings because they aren't sure if they can make them like we wanted.'

Rachel went on talking about her concerns for the party that had been booked to the last weekend of June. Tonks floated from one group of friends to the next, enjoying the loud environment, good food and Butterbeer as much as she could –the latter perhaps a bit more than she would in a night out with her friends – until her watch started to mark half past eleven and her mother brought the cake to the living-room. The traditional song started immediately afterwards and Tonks moved to her dutiful place behind the cake on the table, clapping with everyone else and eyeing her crowd threateningly when her name was coming, but they knew better and she heard was her surname. Well, her mother didn't count; she had never learnt.

'Make a wish,' said Lucy near her once they had finished.

Tonks shut her eyes closed. There was only one person missing in her life now and thinking of Remus, she blew the twenty-three candles. Her mother promptly got the cutlery and small plates to cut the cake slices for she knew that her daughter's ability were far from being good enough to cut one slice slightly similar to the next, thus one by one, the slices were put on the table by Andromeda and the guests served themselves.

'You know what they say,' started Liv, helping herself with a slice, 'the cutting of the cake usually is the last activity of birthday parties sooo … no lover boy?'

'Lover boy?' asked Rachel who had just joined them, casting a glance at the other people in the room.

'Interested in lover boys now, are you?' teased Finn with a grin to which she rolled her eyes, but smiled.

'Dora's lover boy,' answered Liv tilting her head towards her.

'I haven't any lover boy,' Tonks replied. 'Just a … potential one.'

Rachel's eyes widened and Lucy smirked questioning 'Who is he?'

'You don't know him,' she answered, but nodded to Rachel. 'The bloke I went with to your shop that day you thought I was a werewolf.' Tonks shot her a meaningful look to remind her to keep that secret, but all the colour seemed to vanish from Rachel's face. 'Remus,' she added as her friend suddenly busied herself with her cake to hide her expression.

Tonks refrained from clenching her teeth and getting angry at her, so she put up a smile much like she had done every time a new guest arrived at her door.

'Not just a potential one,' Liv argued looking around grinning. 'She's used the L word and I can prove it.'

Sucking in a deep breath, Tonks smiled shrugging her shoulders. She loved Remus Lupin and she wasn't about to deny it in spite of the smirks and raised eyebrows she got for that reaction.

Or the silent, desperate look from Rachel.

'Didn't you invite him? Why isn't he here?' enquired Lucy.

'I did, but –' _he's a werewolf who thinks I shouldn't love him even though he feels the same way._ Tonks put a piece of her cake in her mouth to buy herself some time. 'He's been busy with some work, you know, stuck until late tonight,' she finished still chewing.

'On your birthday?' Lucy retorted apparently indignant.

'He'll make it up to me – In fact …' Tonks grabbed a bottle of Butterbeer floating near them, took off the stopper, took a long gulp as if to give herself some courage and stepped towards the door, smirking at them. 'I'll be back later.'

It was clear by their faces that the girls had understood very well what she was going to do, which was good since she didn't have much time. They would explain to Finn and his confused face. However, Tonks didn't count with another woman stopping her near the door.

'Nymphadora … where are you going?'

'Um … I've to see a friend of mine.' The least lies she told, the easier would it be to make it sound like the truth. 'Remus. He couldn't be here tonight.'

'In the middle of the party, love?' Andromeda argued annoyed and she was sure that it was because she had never been allowed to leave any of the Blacks' party when she was a little girl, no matter how tedious they were.

'Just gonna stop by, won't take long.'

'You be back in a jiffy!' she ordered pointing a finger to her daughter's face. 'They're your guests here.'

'I will,' Tonks promised.

Her mother dried her hands on the apron she had been wearing.

'Take a slice for him then,' she said nearing the table that still had some extra slices that her guests seemed to be too full to eat. 'I think I exaggerated a bit, been a while since I made it for this lot of people. I don't suppose you'll complain, but your grandmother insisted on baking Ted's last year and I understand, but Margaret is –'

'Thanks, Mum!' Tonks cut her short the instant her mother had the slice ready to travel and kissed her cheek before swirling on the spot.

She Apparated a second later in front of a door at the Grimmauld Place she had faced nine days ago and just like then, Tonks knocked, calling his name.

'Remus? Remus, open the door, it's me,' she announced knowing he would recognise her voice, but after a moment, the room remained silent and she tried the doorknob with her elbow, but it was locked. 'C'mon, Remus, it's my birthday, I just want to talk with you and I know you're in there.' She was all but shouting since she didn't want to spend the last minutes of her birthday shutting up Sirius's mum, but thankfully she finally heard footsteps coming to the door and checked her watch as Remus magically unlocked the door. 'There. You've the last five minutes of my day to make it better,' she told him grinning and finally getting a glimpse of his amber freckled blue eyes.

'I didn't buy you anything.'

'I didn't ask you to.'

Remus swallowed hard, his knuckles from the hand still holding the door going white.

'You didn't come so I got you a slice.'

'You didn't have to.'

'I wanted to,' she replied raising her eyebrows. Was it so hard for him to understand that she wanted to do nice things for him? She could play that game of using similar sentences to prove different points of view all night long. She wouldn't let him win.

Tonks offered the cake between two plastic plates involved with a serviette and Remus took it reluctantly.

'You know, I've eaten this cake baked by you, Molly and my mum and –' She narrowed her eyes a bit and lowered her voice. 'Can you keep a secret? I think you're the best cook,' she told him with a wink.

His flushed cheeks betrayed him and he offered her a small smile. She was a couple inches taller than normally and her lips closer to his eyes were not making it any easier for him.

'Thank you,' he said honestly, 'but I don't want you to worry about me.'

Tonks shrugged.

'Well, I wanted to have spent my birthday snogging you, but we don't always get what we want,' she replied, nearing him by placing the tip of her boot against the door so he could not shut it on her face.

Snog him. Remus almost scoffed. Kids all over the world were playing Truth or Dare in which included questions such as "Would you rather hug an Acromantula or snog a werewolf?" and here she was, saying that was what she wanted to do it out of the goodness of her heart and on her birthday out of all the days of the year. Had Dora no notion of their society?

Her left hand still held the Butterbeer she had grabbed at the party and for a moment, she ran her fingers all over the bottle. Miserable though he was, she was admired by how handsome Remus was. Her fingers stilled the bottle and with one step Tonks neared him as much as she could without their bodies touching. She propped herself up on her tiptoes and shut her eyes a moment before her mouth met his. For the shortest instant her lips held his bottom one, savouring the taste of him. His only reaction was to close his eyes whilst his heart sped up in his chest. Kissing him had proven to be just how brilliant she had imagined it would be.

Breaking the kiss, it took Dora a second to move her eyes from his lips to his eyes and see there the delight she felt, albeit disguised by some insecurity. Bit by bit, she would find her way into the armour he had secured his heart over the decades. Her features softened whilst his hardened, but she did not let it affect her and, caressing his cheek with her thumb, Tonks offered him a fond smile just when she heard her watch beeping, indicating the start of a new day.


	42. 41 The Department of Mysteries

**A/N:** Hi, guys! This chapter was betaed by Dragonal01 (thanks again, Al!). I didn't post one last week because I wrote a chapter for the sequel to this story (which I renamed to Vivere Militare Est and obviously I've given up using that name for this story and it shall remain being BGPM ^^). So, if you haven't read it already, go on, you won't regret it! Unless you don't want spoilers for this fic, of course. XD Also, OMG, I never get tired to say this, but I do love every single review I get, however, there are days in which you guys write such special messages, you're all so lovely and it makes me just so happy to read them. I can't say thank you enough. Honest. I love you forever. Also, in case you don't remember the meaning of the word basorexia, go check the chapter 36. ;)

Hayley: I couldn't find any video on youtube with that link. Can you try writing it with spaces after each dot?

Please, leave what you thought of this chapter in the box down there, yeah? Thanks and happy belated Easter! Hope you got to eat loads of chocolate! ^^ Enjoy!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 41: The Department of Mysteries<strong>

Remus watched as Dora stepped away from him, waving her fingers and looking dreadfully pleased with herself until she reached the stairs and turned on her heels to leave. He shouldn't have done it. He knew it from the moment they had broken apart and she had that splendid smile of hers upon her mouth. The fact that he hadn't kissed her back was no comfort to him for she apparently thought he had. If she wasn't so bloody enchanting perhaps he would have been able to listen to his brain shouting for him to push her away the instant she neared him. Instead, he found himself not wanting to do so, in fact, he had wanted to pull her close and never let go. Thus, he stood immobile like a pillock whilst she kissed him. _Well done, Lupin._

Laying down the plate with the cake on his desk, Remus walked over to the bed and sat. How was it that she could penetrate his mind out of the blue? How was it that he found himself thinking of her more frequently than he had ever thought of anyone else? How was it that he could hear her laugh at that very moment, an enthralling sound as though she was right in front of him? What he did not know, however was that the laughter he heard was not in his imagination. Nymphadora Tonks was laughing at the top of her lungs out of sheer happiness the instant she had set foot on the pavement in front of the number twelve, Grimmauld Place. She couldn't stand still for a single second so she started walking to her flat, but the next moment, she broke into a run, throwing her bottle in the first rubbish bin in her way. She would take half an hour to arrive at her flat if she had been walking, but running would take her one third of that time. She was running with a wide grin on her face, shaking her head in disbelief. Merlin's beard, she had kissed him. She had indeed kissed him! She felt like her own body was not enough for her. All her joy couldn't be contained within her, it was spilling out of her and infecting everyone she met on her way to Castle Lane.

Remus hadn't pushed her away or said that they shouldn't have done it. She was getting to him, she knew she was. It was only a matter of time before he surrendered to her.

When Tonks arrived, her mother frowned disapprovingly at her, but that wasn't enough to wipe the smile out of her face, not nearly enough. Furthermore, most of her guests seemed to have left already and the ones who had stayed were being entertained by her father and stories about her childhood.

'And then I come home later that day,' Ted was saying, 'and Dromeda shows me the letter from McGonagall. Impossible to forget a word of it, I tell you. "Your daughter was earlier this afternoon found at the Ravenclaw tower in a chicken suit bothering the students that came in and out of the common room with questions such as 'Am I cool enough to be a Ravenclaw yet? Why won't you let me in?' Professor Sprout has agreed that a week caring for our gamekeeper's chickens will probably be enough to restrain that sort of behaviour from happening again."'

Not even Andromeda resisted the laughter. Tonks shrugged, chuckling along when all the heads turned to her.

'Couldn't conjure an eagle suit,' she explained once the laughter had died a bit. 'But the truth is that none of them were cool enough to be in Hufflepuff.'

Rachel gave a short nod, promptly agreeing with her, but several others rolled their eyes.

'I'd've kept the suit,' remarked Ted, opening an arm to invite her for a hug, but as Andromeda glared at him, he added 'You know I would've!'

Tonks walked over to him and was embraced by his large arms.

'_You_ keep far too many things,' her mother pointed out to which Ted chuckled.

'Come here.' And Ted pulled his wife in for a kiss.

'All right, all right,' said Dora disentangling herself from him. 'If you two are starting with that, I'm leaving.'

'And where would you go, princess? To our house? You always did love to sleep in our bed,' jested Ted.

Tonks sucked in a deep breath and raised her hand to stop him. Her father had no idea that not even the sort of imagery of being conceived in the bed she used to sleep in could take away her good mood. Not when Remus Lupin and kissing were involved.

'I dare you to open my wardrobe and get the box right at the bottom,' she smirked. 'It'll give you a glimpse of what I used to do with previous boyfriends.'

His wide eyes of almost despair were the reason her guests were now laughing. Ted did know how to entertain a room.

'You can't compete against your own genes, Dad,' she said with a wink.

One by one, her friends left. It was indeed just the beginning of their week, as most of them pointed out, they had to be up early the next day to work. Only Liv stayed to spend the night, even though travelling at night would have given her the advantage of not being so easily seen. But when they were heading to bed – in Liv's case the sofa – she asked 'You want me to tell Charlie all about the brilliant party he missed or will you?'

'I will,' Tonks answered. She could write him a letter, but it would take far too long and honestly, she just wanted to be alone and think about Remus so she chose the fast way. Separating the essential bits of her night and how much she missed Charlie for her message to him, Tonks drew out her wand, thought hard of her kissing Remus a little while ago and pointed to the window. '_Expecto Patronum!_' A bulky canine left her wand and dashed through the sky. Dora's eyes widened and her mouth fell open, watching the creature leave. It looked like – Was it? It definitely wasn't a jack rabbit. She wanted to call it back so she could get a good look at it before it could go on its merry way to Romania, but it had already disappeared, leaving behind only a dumbfounded Tonks. 'G'night, Liv,' she murmured and entered her room without waiting for any kind of reply.

It couldn't be. Tonks leant her back on the door and it shut behind her. However, she knew it was possible, it had been documented before though in rather rare occasions. She cast a glance at the wand in her hand as if to make sure it was still her own wand she had been holding, but there was no mistake, it was the exact same one she bought at Ollivanders twelve years before; eleven and one quarter inches, ash, phoenix feather core, pliable. It couldn't be. … But it could. Pushing herself from the door, she adjusted the grip around her wand and exhaled, shaking her head to compose herself. There was only one way to find out. Focusing on her last encounter with Remus once more, Dora sucked in a deep breath and pointing her wand to the middle of her bedroom, spoke the incantation slowly and clearly.

'_Expecto Patronum_.'

It was. A large silver wolf slipped from the tip of her wand then graciously turned around to look at her as though waiting for a command. Flabbergasted, Tonks contoured the animal, observing and bent down to check the gender. A female. It made her chuckle lightly to herself. _She was beautiful._ Crouching to look her in the eye, she noticed that they were just like the eyes of any other Patronus she had seen, pale and hollowed orbs. It was clearly inanimate; still, Dora felt immediately connected to it. That Patronus was the expression of her inner self, the most raw and true expression of herself and it was impossible not to think of Remus as though that was the proof of their love. If only corporeal Patronuses were actually corporeal, she would be able to pet her, but she was just a protector, composed of silvery gleaming smoke. With a smile at the corner of her mouth, Tonks stood up and changed for bed.

'Lie down to sleep,' she ordered as if testing. The wolf turned around searching for the perfect spot beside her bed and laid down with her head nestled on her legs. Dora then laid on the bed herself with her arm dangling from the mattress and her hand near the wolf's head. With the grey shimmer illuminating the room, she fell asleep, but when she woke up the next morning, her Patronus wolf was gone. A bit bittersweet and for some reason, she had wanted to name it, not caring that it was silly to name a Patronus especially since Patronuses would disappear leaving no trace behind. She would never see the little jack rabbit Mad-Eye had helped her conjure, but then again, she was not the same girl who started Auror training.

So, with a fond smile on her lips, she went to the kitchen to have breakfast, if one could call breakfast a slice of cake from the night before. Of course Liv would demand all the details from her few minutes with Remus, but she would have to disappoint her, it had been just a peck on the lips, no matter how much Liv nagged to get the dirty, there wasn't any and her friend was forced to head to Romania with just a wish of good luck for Tonks and the situation she found herself in. In all honesty, it wasn't all that bad, she had kissed him and it had turned out just as she had planned – even if she had made her plans ten minutes before the actual kiss. Things were looking up.

The Order had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday night and when Tonks arrived, Remus was locked up in his room as usual. He only came downstairs just before Dumbledore entered the kitchen and announced that the meeting was going to start.

'Evening, Remus,' she greeted with a grin the moment he stepped in.

'Good evening, Tonks,' he replied courteously.

Just as she had thought, in front of the Order, Remus wanted to keep the appearances so he was free to sulk alone without anyone coming to bother him. Well, anyone but her. She wasn't going to give up. The meeting went on as usual, with reports and decisions on shifts as well as a few objections on how much nonsense Fudge was spouting, not only the Aurors, but every official in every single department of the Ministry doing useless searches and investigating all the mysterious occurrences in the wizarding world that could be explained with the return of Voldemort. Unfortunately, the Minister still refused to believe there was any reason to worry about him; after all, he had been killed almost fifteen years ago. Even without all his responsibilities to Hogwarts, there was only so much Dumbledore could do, but he ended the meeting by promising the Order that he would keep trying to persuade Cornelius at least until he threatened to take him off of the Chocolate Frog cards.

'We'd create another collection just for you,' said George.

'Absobloodylutely!' Fred agreed. 'Dumbledore, the best headmaster of Hogwarts! Dumbledore, the greatest sorcerer! Dumbledore in his favourite robes!'

'Dumbledore, the leader of the Order of the Phoenix!' George added. 'Dumbledore spending holidays in Ireland!'

'We'd just need some pictures to go with it,' grinned Fred.

'Thank you, Mr Weasley.' Nodding to both of them and smiling, Dumbledore turned to leave and slowly the kitchen emptied as most of the Order members had to leave as well.

Pulling his chair close to his cousin's, Sirius grabbed a Butterbeer and told Tonks that Remus had complained to him that she had been rather drunk on Monday night and someone should have taken care of her. Dora laughed.

'He did say that? Someone should take care of me?'

'He did, yeah,' answered Sirius chuckling. 'And then I asked "And by someone you mean you, right, Moony?"'

'And what did he say?' enquired Tonks eagerly.

'Nothing.' Sirius shrugged, sipping on his beer. 'Glared at me and left.'

'Well, I wasn't drunk,' she told him with a light chuckle. 'I'd had a few Butterbeers 'cause it was my birthday and I was celebrating, but I definitely wasn't drunk. I wouldn't want to risk not remembering it by being drunk.'

He laughed.

'I believe you,' Sirius assured her. 'He remarked that there are plenty of empty rooms in here, you could've easily picked one to stay here for the night and left in the morning when you were all better.'

'I was all right!' she argued. By all right she meant of course that that had been one of the best nights of her life. Though, it was impossible not to be reminded of the night she spent in his bedroom when the Headquarters was full of kids last summer, in fact, in his bed.

'I know, mate, I know. He just wanted an excuse to see you.'

Tonks arched an eyebrow with a half smirk on her lips.

'Did he now …?' she asked quizzically and sipped on her Butterbeer. 'That can be arranged. I'll be sleeping in your house tonight, cuz.' She winked.

After Molly's dinner, Tonks fetched a change of clothes in her flat for that night and work robes for the next morning. In a way, it hurt. She had waited for him, tried to make it easier for him, confessed her feelings to him and what did he do? He had ignored her. But that was temporary, she told herself. Remus couldn't say no to her forever, not when he felt the same way towards her. Sighing, she laid on the bed. He had come to her … After what she figured was his worst transformation of the past year, he had come to her in requesting help when no one else was with him. And he had given her flowers, true being conjured they hadn't lasted long, but he had given her a beautiful bouquet of pink tulips. Remus had looked so handsome then, both in the morning after, with a weak smile and tired eyes, and the night before after opening his eyes to see that yes, he had made it into her flat. Merlin, how come she had been so blind to his feelings? To her own feelings?

Remus already loved her then and she already loved him. He looked so handsome … and she had kissed him … Tonks's hand went to her inner thigh, slowly coming up; the perks of just wearing an old T-shirt to bed. It wouldn't be the first time. She had thought of Remus with her hand between her legs for a few months now, no one else was enough for her, no one else was right for her. Only he could get her in the mood. They had shared a room a couple of times, he had slept in her bed. Naked. She remembered the night with the werewolf pack, when he had put his hand possessively on her thigh, protecting her. She didn't need protection, but oh what wouldn't she give to have his hand on her thigh now?

The sound of footsteps across the door of her bedroom pulled her from her fantasy at once. Though they seemed … soft? Tonks paused, eyes wide in the dark whilst her breath slowly evened out, trying to hear more, but apparently the sound had stopped. The following second, her wand was in her hand and she was frowning at the door. Then she heard it. Footsteps again, though these were clearly someone else's. Were really Remus and Sirius crossing the corridor in the small hours? Or was it – Sirius and Remus instead. Sirius had turned, hadn't he? That was why she thought they sounded softer than normal footsteps; it had been a dog crossing the corridor, not a person as she thought. She slid her legs out of the bed and stood up, heading for the door. Indeed she had nearly failed Stealth and Tracking. _But she hadn't._ As slowly and as quietly as she could, Dora went downstairs and took one look in the kitchen and she lost all her will to look for her cousin. Remus Lupin was indeed fit.

'Padfoot out again?' she asked to announce herself and entered the kitchen.

Remus jolted out of his inner thoughts, eyes wide as he looked at her.

'Bloody hell, Tonks!' he exclaimed panting. 'Whatever are you doing here?' He brought his arms forwards and almost hid his face in his hands, but decided to cover his torso instead. Remus felt naked wearing just the bottoms of his pyjamas. If he knew there was anyone else in the house, he would not have stopped at the kitchen for a glass of water or rather … put his gown on before leaving. That was why he had thought the whole house smelled like her when he left his room. Because she _was_ in the bloody house.

'Were you tricking me into believing you were smart all this time?' Tonks asked with a light frown and walked farther into the kitchen. 'I was looking for Sirius and I take it you were looking for him too, yeah?'

Remus nodded swallowing hard against the lump in his throat. How was it that wearing only that large T-shirt she could pull simultaneously the looks of sweet, innocent girl and charming, sexy woman?

'I – ah … I was thinking where to go, where to look for him,' he answered, sliding farther from her in the counter. 'Sirius hates –'

'—being here, everyone knows that,' Dora finished for him, nodding and still walking. 'We should let –'

'—him go out on his own?' he questioned with an arched eyebrow and sliding another step. 'What do you reckon will happen to him?'

'Sirius is a grown man,' she mocked, still getting closer to him. 'I believe we can let him look after himself, for one night at least.'

'You know that's not the problem,' Remus replied leaving the counter and pretending to check something in the dresser on the other end of the kitchen.

'Then what is it?'

'Lucius Malfoy knows about him – about Padfoot,' he sighed. 'I don't want to see him being shoved into Azkaban again. Who knows what they'll do now that they think he set free all the others …'

'You know it's killing him to stay here,' she reminded him.

There was only one foot between them now and he had turned to her, but it seemed that she wasn't as worried as he was to keep the appearance that everything was all right and there was no underlying meaning behind any of their actions.

Stepping back, Remus thought hard of what he could say to convince her that they should go after Sirius. Wait … why was he trying to convince her?

'Are you afraid of me?' she asked, ignoring their previous conversation altogether.

He sighed.

'It's not you I'm afraid of.'

Tonks stepped forwards.

Remus stepped back.

'Do you trust me?'

A moment passed whilst he looked in the depths of her eyes and he lowered his hands.

'I trust you to do what you think is right,' he said at last.

She stepped forwards and this time Remus didn't move.

'The problem is,' he continued, 'your judgements are not always the same as mine, but … um, to answer your question, I suppose do. I do trust you.' Magnetic poles indeed. The closer she got, the harder it was for him to pull away. 'I know you'd save my life should I … should I be threatened somehow …' There was only one word he could think of to describe what he was feeling: basorexia.

'Then shut up.'

But Sirius …

Sirius had said …

_Don't be a berk._

Dora closed the small gap between them, her arms flying to his neck, lips colliding with his with such fervour that Remus found himself momentarily taken aback, before responding to the kiss in equal measure. He had wanted her for so long. He had let his imagination go wild and in several moments, nothing he had imagined in those lonely moments could compare with the enchanting sensation of her tongue on his lips. His arms found her waist and he welcomed her, trailing her tongue with his, feeling her. Their lips were moving against one another. Hot. Wet. Passionate. He could feel her body pressed against his, only a thin layer of fabric separating them. So good … She smelled so good. She tasted so good. His fingers tightened the grip on her skin. Merlin, he wanted her. He wanted her so badly …

Remus pulled away from her. With his hands gripping her shoulders tightly and he looked at her with wide eyes, panting. What had he done?

He was disgusting.

'I'm sorry,' he blurted out when he saw her frown.

'Remus?' Tonks called as he passed by her, leaving the kitchen in a hurry.

'I'm really, really sorry,' he mumbled again, still not looking back at her.

He rubbed his lips and glimpsed at the saliva on his fingers, the taste of her. Good Merlin, what had he done? It was a blessing that no one else had seen them. He could take it all away, couldn't he? Pretend it hadn't happened so she could move on with her life without being the girl who had snogged a werewolf. That was settled, they would pretend it had never happened. It was the least he could do. He couldn't let her go around with the disgrace of having snogged a werewolf. He just couldn't.

'Remus, hang on a second!'

'I never kissed you,' he stated as she came after him. 'We don't have to mention this to anyone.'

'_This is bloody ridiculous!_'

'We can't – we won't kiss again, it was a mistake. A terrible – an unfortunate mistake, I'll admit.' Remus headed for the stairs, climbing two steps at a time. 'It was all my fault.'

'_I_ fucking snogged you!' Tonks argued. '_We_ snogged each other!'

'Feel free to hide that fact in the best way you see fit,' Remus replied as they arrived in the corridor.

'"Hide it"?' she repeated. 'I'd put it on the front page of the bloody Prophet if I could!'

He scoffed, entering his room, but keeping the door ajar.

'You haven't got a clue what you're saying,' he told her, his voice was calm for the first time since they broke apart. 'You should go to bed.'

'Don't do this …'

Remus closed the door and drew out his wand.

'Remus, don't do this!' she begged.

'_Colloportus!_'

Tonks touched the now magically locked door. A counter-jinx would have the door open in a second, but she couldn't. That had been the proof that Remus didn't want to be with her at that moment.

'I love you,' she whispered to the door, sure that he had heard her for the Grimmauld Place was dead silent.

And his reply? A wand pointed to the door whilst he mutely cast a Silencing Charm in his room. Remus Lupin didn't trust himself not to go after her if she sounded that hurt again and he couldn't ruin her life like that.

Outside, Tonks left the corridor towards her own bedroom and let herself fall on the bed. And to think that she had thought it would be a good idea to spend the night. She had snogged him, but at what cost? Would he be any more reclusive towards her? Well, perhaps the right question would be: _could_ he be any more reclusive towards her?

Not caring about the noises he made any longer, Remus walked over to the bed and sat with his hands hiding his face, only to lie down with his hands under his head a moment later. What had he done? _"I love you." _He could hear her say. _"I love you."_ Again and again. Her voice had been so small, so uncharacteristic of how she spoke her mind at Order meetings or stating her opinion during one of their numerous conversations. He had done this to her.

He had been so close to pulling her into his arms and lifting her onto the counter to – to – Remus swallowed hard. He supposed he should be thankful for being able to stop himself in time, though the herculean effort still took its toll. He could hear her, smell her, taste her. She was perfect. And she wanted him. Only now did he realise that _that_ was the worst aspect of his curse. Nymphadora Tonks loved him. And it was up to him to say no, to stop her from destroying her life. He remembered the times when he wished she would feel something for him. When on his birthday, he blew the candles thinking of her returning his feelings in a fantasy that belonged in a far off land. The saying "Careful with what you wish for," had never made so much sense. How could he think that those three words coming from her would actually make him happy? In all honesty, he had been happy … but it only lasted a second or maybe two. He had been so naïve … It was as if his heart had been contorting itself, turning physical his emotional pain. Remus had never thought that her loving him would feel worse than her indifference, than her friendship. It hurt. A tear fell down his cheek. This was his real curse; a perfect life that was one word away, but the one word he could never bring himself to say.

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><p>Five days later found the usual morning routine of the Auror Headquarters broken. However, by the frequency of the Minister for Magic there to have the Aurors fulfilling his whims, one could hardly say it was routine not to have him around. Fudge entered with a frown and the smallest pout as though questioning why they hadn't read his mind and had jumped on the task he was about to assign them. Percy Weasley by his side had what seemed to be a badly cleaned spot of ink on his nose and carried a quill and some parchment, ready to take note of what happened in the Minister's presence.<p>

'I take it you have heard of what has happened,' Fudge started and cleared his throat. However, as Tonks frowned – and so did a few others – he shot the Aurors a surprised look, taking off his bowler hat.

'What's happened?' asked Savage crossing his arms over his chest.

'The gamekeeper Hagrid!' Fudge exclaimed as if that explained everything.

'What about Hagrid?' Tonks questioned frowning even more, but trying to act like that information couldn't be crucial to the Order. She didn't dare exchange a look with Savage or Kingsley in the back of the Office.

'Headmistress Umbridge,' he started, talking about her with great honour and swirling the bowler in his hands, 'rendered him unfit for the post of Professor of Care of Magical Creatures and she went to his – _house_, so to speak, but he didn't react well upon being sacked last night and fled rather than come to depose on Dumbledore's whereabouts! Which can only mean that he knows! He knows where Dumbledore is and he is covering up for him! As if it wasn't enough, McGonagall got in between and _defended_ him … but not without being Stunned herself. Sent to St. Mungo's just now –'

'McGonagall's in St. Mungo's?' enquired Poynter. 'Is she all right?'

'I am the Minister, not a Healer!' Fudge exclaimed and Percy nodded to support him. 'I want him arrested. Where are Dawlish and Williamson?'

'Not here,' answered Proudfoot calmly looking around the Office.

'Good. They must be searching. Good …' For a moment, Fudge seemed to have forgotten what he had wanted to tell them ever since he got there. He was swirling the bowler so fast that it was a blur of lime-green. 'In the meantime, I want all of you searching. Speaking of which; how's the search for Black, Shacklebolt? Still in Scotland, is he?'

'According to our last source, he was seen near Newcastle,' Kingsley answered promptly. 'He's coming South, it seems. We'll get him, Minister.'

Fudge nodded approvingly.

'Very well.' He pocketed his hand and got a golden watch out. 'Merlin's beard, Weasley, we have ten minutes until that meeting with the Head of the – Hagrid!' he reminded them, pointing at their faces and turning around. 'Now!'

The Aurors had no choice but to stand up and organise themselves to search for him. Tonks and Savage got lucky and were the ones assigned to stay in charge of the Office on that morning.

* * *

><p>Kingsley's Patronus had arrived whilst Remus was having breakfast; the news of McGonagall's condition and a brief summary of what had happened at Hogwarts the night before left him astounded. He had never thought that Umbridge would sink so low, firing a professor and attempting to force him to go to the Ministry in the middle of the night, attacking another professor just because she defended him? It was not surprising that Fred and George had had enough; he could only wonder what kind of education the kids were getting at Hogwarts after Dumbledore was forced to leave. Remus made plans to visit McGonagall at the hospital during his free afternoon and left Grimmauld Place.<p>

St. Mungo's was emptier than Remus thought it would be. After a few minutes in the queue, the welcomewitch shot him a dull look and spent an awfully long time checking the records until finally giving him the room number.

'Thank you,' he said politely and with a small smile. She may not think he was worthy of a bit of kindness from her, but she certainly needed a little bit of kindness in her life.

On the fourth floor and not far from the room Arthur had been in six months before, Remus located Professor McGonagall and knocked on her door before putting his head inside. She was currently lying in the bed with a white gown on and she had her hair set loose like he had seen only a couple of times before. On the bedside table, he noticed her usual pointed hat and wand. She was sharing the room with a witch snoring louder than Sirius after he had half a bottle of Firewhisky.

'Good afternoon, Minerva.' Remus nodded to the room. 'May I come in?'

McGonagall smiled weakly at him, but gestured for him to enter. 'By all means, Remus.'

He entered, conjuring a chair for himself near her bed.

'How are you feeling?'

She winced, propping herself to sit up against the pillows and glared at the snoring witch.

'Still a bit dizzy … Nothing that two or three days here and a Grand Pepper Up Potion can't fix.'

By the smile she offered him, Remus figured she was in more pain than she was willing to admit. To him, at least, the Healers were the ones who had to get her well. That was all that mattered.

'I see,' he said returning her smile, but the sympathy was soon replaced by seriousness. 'What happened, Minerva?'

'A coward's onslaught, that's what happened,' she answered at once. 'Poor Hagrid was surprised by that Umbridge with four Aurors in the middle of the night. I'm not quite sure what they wanted, but he clearly asked them to stop. It was a scandal and they attacked him. I tried to help and they all turned to me. Four Stunning Spells right to my chest! Had they given me one word of warning, the four of them would be here now instead of me. Old Aurors were the good ones, Remus. I don't know how they've been training them, but they seem to have forgotten all about giving their opponent a fair fight and I wasn't even duelling them, mind you. If Moody knew … he would have gone berserk on them, I'm telling you. Nymphadora is a lucky girl, the last of his pupils.'

Before he knew, Remus was smiling fondly at the mention of her, eyes lost in the window showing a bright summer afternoon in London and forgetting all about the snores for a moment.

'… Yes, she is.'

'Barty Crouch Jr. didn't do a terrible job with the kids, better than Umbridge, I assure you,' McGonagall continued. 'But you know why? Because he was acting so like Moody! His classes were exactly what Albus and I thought they would be. One way or another … they learnt, Remus, but this – what Umbridge is doing? Having them sit and read the book? That's not preparing them, especially now. It's ruining Hogwarts, that's what it is! They need a proper teacher. Someone like you.'

Remus felt his cheeks burning.

'Thank you … but the Order needs me more now,' he reminded her. 'Moreover, they had the Defence group Harry organised with his friends. I'm aware it wasn't much, but it was something. The minute you return to Hogwarts, the students will have the kind of professor they deserve,' he pointed out, standing up. 'I just came for a quick visit; Kingsley says he will be there later with more information on …' he looked around and lowered his voice, 'what the Office has been doing. I'll let you rest. Get well soon.'

'If one can get any rest with that,' McGonagall brought forth, nodding to the other woman in the room still snoring and laid on the bed whilst he left the room chuckling.

Back on the Ground Floor, he was free to go and Disapparated to Grimmauld Place where, upon opening the door, he heard Sirius pacing in the drawing-room, so caught up in whatever it was in his mind, that he didn't notice Remus standing by the door, frowning at him.

'What's happened, Padfoot?'

Sirius looked up with wide eyes, surprise and nervousness mixed upon his face.

'Snivellus just sent me a Patronus,' he told him. 'Asked me to confirm that I'm here because-because he heard a sort of a rumour about me being at the Ministry, something to do with Harry. I don't know … He didn't explain. I told him I –'

'All right, calm down, Pads,' he said, raising his hand then gestured to the sofa. 'Sit down, will you?' Sirius sat, but immediately dug his fingers in his hair. Still, Remus sat beside him. 'You told him you were here, yes?'

'Course I did!' Sirius spat. 'The bastard hasn't replied yet. If Harry saw me – If this is because he stopped teaching Harry – If Harry gets hurt, I'll kill him! Mark my words, Moony. I swear, he's not –'

'Calm down, Sirius,' Remus repeated raising his voice a bit. 'You're not killing anyone. For all we know, Harry is at Hogwarts doing another O.W.L. and hoping to finish it as soon as possible.'

'But if he –'

'If something happens, we will know, but there's nothing we can do now, is there?' Remus said matter-of-factly then getting a glimpse of blood on his friend's hand, he asked 'What's that?'

Sirius clenched his teeth, exhaling heavily, but when the question came, he shook his head dismissing it.

'Buckbeak got a nasty cut right after lunch, I was patching him up when Snape's Patronus came.'

'Get cleaned up. I'll make you a cuppa.'

Remus went to the kitchen and had the tea ready in just a few minutes, adding some Calming Draught to it before bringing the mug to his friend. Judging by how nervous Sirius was, he could burst out the door at that moment. However, thanks to Remus and the tours around London in the middle of the night, Sirius was asleep in the sofa half an hour later, snoring far quieter than McGonagall's roommate and Remus, albeit a bit nervous about the situation with Harry and the lack of news, could at least read a book to try and distract himself while waiting for Kingsley to arrive.

Night had already fallen when the Auror entered Grimmauld Place, though much to Remus's dismay, he was not alone, but accompanied by Tonks and Moody.

'Wotcher, Remus!' she grinned.

'Good evening, Remus,' greeted Kingsley whilst Mad-Eye crossed the room with both eyes on the street outside.

'Evening,' Remus replied taking his eyes off of his book to cast a glance at Kingsley. 'Is everything all right?' he asked after noticing Mad-Eye.

Kingsley shrugged after they had all made themselves at home.

'As all right as they could be, I suppose,' he answered and sucked in a breath to keep talking, but was interrupted before he could do so.

'Hang on a minute, will you? Sirius?' Remus called nearing him and making his mind to report the Patronus after Kingsley had finished.

'James did it,' he mumbled in his sleep.

'Sirius?' Remus called again. 'Kingsley's here.'

'I didn' do it …' he continued, turning to the side. 'It was broken when I got here …'

'Padfoot!'

'Good Merlin! Whatever have I done to you?' Sirius shouted jumping awake then looked around to see the others looking at him. 'Sorry, I was just …'

'Sleeping, yeah,' Tonks finished for him.

'Kingsley's here,' Remus brought forth. 'Do you want to hear the report or do you rather go to your bedroom and continue to … not do whatever it is that you weren't doing?'

Sirius rubbed his eyes with his cuffs. 'Go on,' he said nodding to Kingsley.

'Fudge says Hagrid wasn't fit to teach according to Umbridge,' he started in his deep voice.

'No wonder with her open hate for half-breeds,' Remus pointed out.

'We all knew it was only a matter of time,' Kingsley continued. 'Problem is Umbridge wasn't satisfied in simply sacking him. She arrived at his home in the middle of the night with four Aurors and wanted to take him to an enquiry on Dumbledore's whereabouts. Obviously, Hagrid thought it was an outrage and refused to go so they drew their wands. McGonagall was waiting the end of the Astronomy O.W.L. and with all the noise, she came down to check on him. Hagrid was fortunate, due to how resistant giants are to magic, but McGonagall wasn't so lucky.' He sighed.

'I paid her a visit earlier today,' Remus told them.

'How's she?' Tonks asked.

'She's recovering,' he answered avoiding her eyes. 'Still dizzy and sore, but says she should be coming back to the school in a couple of days. Livid, she was,' he smiled a bit recalling her face, 'going on and on how they were cowards and should have given her a warning.'

'_That_ they should've,' interjected Mad-Eye promptly.

'Either way,' Kingsley continued, 'Fudge has us now flying the whole country day and night after Dumbledore, Hagrid and Sirius.'

'You'll never find me,' Sirius smirked.

'Told Scrimgeour I wanted to take Tonks on my search over Cambridge since she knows the area 'cause her parents live there, to get us here,' Kingsley said.

'A bit of luck and he won't be –'

Mad-Eye was interrupted by a silver doe entering the drawing-room. Frowns and looks of curiosity crossed their faces until the Patronus started to talk with Snape's voice.

'I have reasons to believe that Potter is no longer at Hogwarts. He was last seen entering the Forbidden Forest and I suspect he went to the Ministry to look for you, Black. I will be entering the Forest shortly and have already contacted Dumbledore so have the decency to wait so you can inform him of my findings whilst whoever is at the Headquarters now can go look for Potter at the Department of Mysteries.'

The Patronus was still dissolving when Sirius declared 'I'm not waiting. KREACHER!'

'Sirius,' Remus started, 'Dumbledore _has_ to be informed – if they catch you at the Ministry …'

But Sirius wasn't listening and glared at the House-elf when he came in from just behind the door with his head to the floor and a pretentious smile.

'Yes, Master Sirius?'

'Sirius –'

'HARRY IS IN DANGER, REMUS!' he shouted then turned to Kreacher. 'The message from Snape you just heard – don't deny it. You are to wait right here for Dumbledore and tell him all about the message because we're all going to the Department of Mysteries to find Harry, understood?'

Kreacher nodded with the same pretentious smile.

'Kreacher lives to serve the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black.'

With five loud pops they emptied the room. The Order reappeared at the Atrium, empty at that time. Nearly all the workers were home and they were free to run as fast as possible to the lifts, hearing only the echo of their footsteps and the indistinct sound of Moody's wooden leg hitting the marble. Sirius was the first in and he held the golden grilles with one hand, smashing the ninth button with the other repeatedly.

'Come on, Mad-Eye!' he shouted to the last of them the instant Remus entered. 'If you take any longer, we're leaving without you!'

Barely had he finished the last word, Moody waved his wand at the grilles and immobilised Sirius. A moment later, he entered the lift, the grilles closed and they started moving.

'You should learn some respect,' Mad-Eye stated, unsympathetic of the fury in Sirius's eyes. 'You shouldn't even be here.' Another wave of his wand and Sirius was free.

'_If my godson is in danger you can bet your remaining limbs that I'll help him!_' Sirius shouted. 'And it's not a lunatic like you who's going to stop me!'

'Had we any time to spare and you'd be back to your mother's house right now, that's why I won't send you back!' Mad-Eye replied.

'That's right, you won't!'

However, there was no time for Mad-Eye to respond for the grilles opened after all the swinging and they were running again. Sirius opened the door to the Department of Mysteries, but being unused to the shifts, he paused for a second whilst the room swirled.

'The Hall of the Prophecy!' exclaimed Kingsley.

The door swung open and he led them at full speed towards the 97th row; all wands illuminating corridor after corridor, searching for any sign of the kids.

'They're not here?' Remus asked, anxiety starting to settle in.

'The prophecy's gone,' remarked Mad-Eye bringing forth all the other four pairs of eyes to the shelf.

'Is that …' Tonks rubbed the pad of her finger on a mark on a shelf. 'Blood. But it's dry, looks old.'

'Do you think the prophecy could be …?' Kingsley trailed off showing with the tip of his wand the several broken spheres on the floor.

'No time for that now,' stated Mad-Eye, already heading back to the circular room and they followed him through the narrow corridors.

They had been there. Harry had been there. The broken prophecies could only mean a fight. If something happened to Harry … Remus knew he would never forgive himself for not being able to convince Severus to keep teaching him Occlumency. It was crucial that Harry had learnt to close his mind, but now was too late. That had been the critical problem, Dumbledore had known, that was why he had insisted. Now, Voldemort knew too and he had used it against Harry, he played right to his weak spot. Sirius. He knew Harry would risk anything to save him and now Sirius was risking everything to save Harry. They arrived back at the Room of Doors and it swirled as they were faced with a vital problem. Where was Harry?

'Where now?' Sirius asked, but they all looked at the doors, searching for any clue that would let them know where the boy had entered, but the blue candles remained indifferent to their needs.

Remus didn't know which one he would rather find Harry in, each one had its down side. Each one was a branch of magic that they had yet to be able to understand fully. Death, time, space, thought, fate and even love; Remus knew exactly how devastating love could be. They were all unable to stop, no magic in the world could stop them. They stopped and they started without any wand being waved. They were all masters of themselves, beyond any control. And now the Order was at their mercy. It had only been a brief instant, but it felt like an eternity of wasted time.

'WHERE'S HARRY?' Sirius cried and a door opened.

They wasted no more time and dashed to cross the door. The room was large, dimly lit and rectangular; its centre was sunken, forming a twenty feet deep stone pit. It looked a lot like a theatre Remus never had had the gold to go, though he wanted to. Ironically, they were at the topmost seats, the only one he would be able to afford if he sold his belongings. The Death Chamber, Remus realised upon seeing the archway with the tattered veil, the entrance to the world of the dead where no one could ever return. Sickening it was how there seemed to be a place for an audience when it was undeniably a lonely journey. He had only just located Harry when he saw a flash of red light leaving Tonks's wand beside him, but there was no time to be proud of her. Lucius Malfoy ducked her spell just in time and the others began to strike back instantly.

Bellatrix's face lit up immediately as though all she had wanted was for the Order of the Phoenix to arrive. Flicking her wand, it was clear that she was not that interested in the Order, but rather in a specific pink-haired witch. Tonks only had time to dodge. Remus was forced to trust the lessons Moody gave her years ago for more Death Eaters were shooting spells at them and the Order started clambering down the steep stone steps, raining colourful jets of light as they went. They were outnumbered, at least two to one. Their one good fortune – if one could call it that – was that it seemed some Death Eaters were more concerned in searching for Harry than attacking the new arrivals. To how many members had Severus sent that message? He could only hope some reinforcement was on its way.

Remus arrived at the bottom attacking a masked Death Eater. Sirius was already nearing the dais, shooting spells at another masked one. Kingsley was duelling two at the same time. Moody attacked another two and arrived with what was undoubtedly a clamour of his leg, but no one heard due to the symphony of spells they were all shooting. Tonks was the only one left by the stone seats; Bellatrix was maniacally approaching the spot the Order had just come from. If she had a second to spare, Tonks would have noticed the fireworks that took over the room, the blurs their wands had become due to all the rapid movements; almost too beautiful for the Death Chamber.

_Attack is the best defensive tactics_, Mad-Eye used to tell her. No one needed to defend while they were attacking so that was what she aimed to do at that moment. Jinxes, hexes, curses, they only stayed in her mind for a second whilst Tonks made the wand movement and fired spells frantically at her opponent, but Bellatrix seemed to know that all too well.

'How's your mum, girl?' Bellatrix asked, but Tonks remained quiet and focused on the duel, not letting it get to her. 'Oh, no manners, have you? Doesn't surprise me, Andromeda never knew how to properly behave.'

Tonks shot her a Stunning Spell, but she ducked.

'That mudblood's fault, no doubt,' Bellatrix continued. 'She just wanted to leave and meet with him.'

Flicking her wand, Tonks threw a Stinging Hex, but Bellatrix deflected.

'I'd ask you to give my darling sister a message from me, but I'm afraid you won't be seeing your beloved mum after tonight.' Bellatrix cackled, dodging another Stunning Spell. 'I'd tell her that I will come to her after I'm done with you and I'll let her watch as I play with that bunch of useless meat that is your father – I'll see how long he lasts before I –'

'**Shut up!**' she screamed and her angry eyes caught a glimpse of her old mentor lying on the floor, bleeding from his head.

'_Crucio!_'

Tonks knew what was coming and braced herself. Every fibre within her shouted in protest. It was as though all her nerves were being burnt bit by bit to ensure the worst kind of pain. It took everything in her not to scream, but she couldn't help the low grunts that escaped her.

The instant the curse was out, with her muscles still complaining from the sudden agony, but before Bellatrix expected, Tonks started firing spells repeatedly at her opponent's centre. She was fine.

Bellatrix took advantage of it and dodged to the side getting the chance to hit her shoulder. In the second that took Tonks to ignore the pain, Bellatrix attacked again, this time cutting open both her robes and her skin, causing a sharp pain on her hip where she was hit. A quick glance was all Tonks did towards her new cut, her scarlet robes would disguise the blood, if there was any, and cast a Full Body-Bind Curse at her. Ducking once more, Bellatrix shot a jet of purple light at her which Tonks managed to dodge for merely half an inch. The spell hit the seats behind her sending pieces of stones all over and forcing her to cast a Shielding Charm to protect herself from the flying rubble. The short instant of distraction from the duel seemed to be all Bellatrix needed.

The last thing Tonks saw was a flash of blue light before her back was thrown against the stone behind her.

Fighting his way closer to Harry, who had just got together with Sirius after he knocked his opponent out, Remus had been duelling near the dais when a flash of bubble-gum pink moving fast caught his eyes and he allowed himself a moment to worry. Bellatrix was celebrating triumphantly and Tonks was falling, her limp body hitting painfully each one of the stone steps. Back, arms, face, Dora wasn't protecting herself … which could only mean that she was unconscious, in the best case scenario. With a thump she landed face first on the sunken floor of the chamber and there she stayed, immobile. Dora would be lucky if after that fall all she had were broken bones. Remus felt his heart skip a beat. _Don't let her be dead. Merlin, please. Don't let her be dead._


	43. 42 The End of the Beginning

**CHAPTER 42: The End of the Beginning**

A Stinging Jinx right to his chest was the price to be paid for worrying about her. Remus struggled to suck in another breath through all the pain he was feeling. His opponent took the opportunity to dash towards Harry, but Remus managed to hit him with a Full Body-Bind Curse. Arms glued at once at the sides of his body, the Death Eater fell on his back, unable to move.

'Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!' he heard Sirius yell as he sprinted to meet Bellatrix.

Harry was in danger and he had to get him to safety so Tonks could be taken care of. Harry found himself in a difficult situation; Neville was incapable of walking properly due to a Dancing Feet Spell; Remus wanted desperately to help the boy, but they were rather far from him and the Order had bigger problems to deal with a point proven by the jet of green light that missed them by an inch or the fact that Lucius Malfoy was pressing the tip of his wand to Harry's ribs.

'The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!' demanded Malfoy.

Remus ran to them as fast as he could.

Harry struggled under the Death Eater's weight, but still with the sphere safe between his fingers.

'No – get – off – me ... Neville – catch it!'

The prophecy left Harry's hand, rolling on the floor and Neville spun himself around to scoop it in his chest. Malfoy turned his aim on Neville instead.

Remus was closer to them. But still not close enough.

Harry pointed his wand to the Death Eater and yelled '_Impedimenta!_'

Malfoy was thrown to the dais near Sirius and Bellatrix, but soon was aiming his wand at the boys once more. This time, however, Remus was close enough and jumped between them.

'Harry, round up the others and GO!' he shouted at the boy, preparing himself to start duelling Malfoy. '_Stupefy!_' Remus waved his wand, but he ducked the spell just as he had ducked Tonks's.

The Death Eater threw a Blasting Curse towards him, but his aim was so off that Remus wondered if he had thought of distracting him in order to go after Harry again. He wasn't going to fall for that, however, Remus had enough experience with their schemes to know when it was real and when it wasn't. Problem was, Malfoy was quite experienced himself, being older than Remus, so they started exchanging curses, casting one after the other; waiting to see who would start to show signs of tiredness first. Nevertheless, before that was even close to happening, Remus saw something in the Death Eater's eyes, something that wasn't fake like his poor aim, something that was unmistakably ... fear.

Furrowing his brows, Remus turned his head to look at whatever Malfoy was looking. What he saw made his chest lighter instantly. The reinforcements he had been begging for ever since they stepped into the room had arrived and it had the shape of a greying wizard wearing a pointed violet hat and matching robes, along with half-moon glasses. His usually baby blue eyes seemed to be electric, as though to show the anger in his old face.

'DUBBLEDORE!' Neville screamed.

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes for a split second at the battle then sprinted down the stone steps. A masked Death Eater panicked and tried to climb the steps with both hands and feet, but all Dumbledore did was flick his wand at him to bring him back to the sunken floor of the chamber. Remus wanted to be relieved, just like he had been several times when they were battling against Death Eaters in the First War and Dumbledore had arrived. This time however, there was a tightness in his chest that not even Dumbledore could ease. Remus still didn't know what had happened with Tonks and he couldn't find out whilst Death Eaters were in every corner of the room. Harry was still in danger and something told him that if he saved her over him, she would hex him; she was Mad-Eye Moody's protégée after all. With Dumbledore's arrival, all wands had stopped firing as though admitting the Order's victory due to the appearance of their leader. All but two.

A flash of red light and Sirius ducked, laughing and stepping back, too close to the archway.

'Come on, come on, you can do better than that!' Sirius shouted at his cousin, the echo of his voice clear in every inch of the room due to how silent they all were.

The second flash of light hit him squarely on the chest. His lips were still smiling, but his eyes widened in surprise and shock. _No._ Remus watched as his friend fell backwards; his head and back crossing the tattered veil first and then his body started to fall in a curve, as though he had been immersed in water. Bit by bit, Sirius fell, forever laughing, forever in shock of how he had ended. _No._ For a moment, every muscle in his body went numb in fear and disbelief. _Merlin, please, no!_ But if he had the right to wish for a miracle, he had spent it on the pink-haired witch still lying on the floor and he didn't even know whether it had been worth it. He couldn't believe it. Remus knew from the moment he stepped into that room what would happen to whoever crossed the veil, but he couldn't quite believe that of all people in that room, Sirius Black had entered the world of dead, from which he could never return. Part of him wanted to run after Sirius and drag him back by the feet, but before Remus could get any reaction out of himself, the last of his best friends had disappeared. Sirius was gone. And Merlin only knew what had happened to Nymphadora, her limp body was still in the very same position from when she landed on the floor. Remus couldn't scream. He couldn't cry. He couldn't go after him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard people shouting. Numb. All numb. The heart still beat within his chest, but Remus didn't understand the reason why. He was the beast who didn't deserve to walk beside the wonderful people that once were Peter, James and now Sirius, but they were gone and he somehow, _somehow_ was the last one standing. He was alone.

Remus only woke from his torpor when he saw Harry dashing towards the veil, undoubtedly wanting to pull his godfather back the same way he had wanted to get his best friend back an instant before. Remus grabbed Harry by the chest, holding onto him as though for dear life. If Dora was – If Dora had – too ... Harry was the only thing keeping him here.

'There's nothing you can do, Harry –' Remus said through clenched teeth.

'Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!' Harry begged.

'—it's too late, Harry.'

'We can still reach him –'

Harry tried to disentangle himself from him struggling as hard as he could, but the boy didn't seem to understand that Remus simply could not let go. If he did, if he had indeed lost everyone he held dear in the world, he might as well take Harry's hand and cross the veil with him.

'There's nothing you can do, Harry ... nothing ... he's gone.'

Remus was panting, if from the effort of holding Harry back or from saying it out loud, he would never know.

'He hasn't gone!' yelled Harry visibly in disbelief of what had happened to his godfather. 'SIRIUS! SIRIUS!'

'He can't come back, Harry,' Remus told him; his usual hoarse voice broke. 'He can't come back because he's d—'

He couldn't bring himself to say it and all his will to utter the fatidic word was gone as Harry interrupted him.

'HE – IS – NOT – DEAD!' Harry roared, scratching and gripping Remus's hand to try and set himself free. 'SIRIUS!'

Meanwhile, Dumbledore was trapping the remaining conscious Death Eaters; Kingsley had stepped forwards to duel Bellatrix and Remus wondered if he would lose a third person for her on that night. Well, the least he could do was make sure it wasn't Harry. He dragged the boy from the archway as though that would lessen the anger in his eyes if he stared at it from afar and finally understood that Sirius would never grace them with his bark-like laughter. As they backed away, Remus could see what was happening around them: Dumbledore already had the Death Eaters grouped at the centre of the room by an invisible barrier, Kingsley still duelled Bellatrix and Mad-Eye had crawled to where Tonks was and waved his wand at her. It had to mean that she was alive, right? _Right?_

Harry's attempts to leave his embrace slowed down as they reached the stone steps and eventually died. Neville slid down to where they were, looking worried.

'Harry?' he called, blood staining most of his round face coming from what was undoubtedly a broken nose and his legs dancing madly out of his control. 'Harry ... I'b really sorry ... Was dad man – Was Sirius Black a – a friend of yours?'

Harry nodded and he was glad that the boy could at least react at the question.

'Here.' Remus pointed his wand to Neville's legs and said '_Finite!_' They fell onto the stone, still and relief was clear in the blond boy's face. It was easy to work on automatic, to do the mundane tasks such as end a Dancing Feet Spell and search for the other kids instead of dwelling on the fact that he would never see Sirius Black again. 'Let's – let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?'

'Dey're all back dere,' he answered. 'A brain addacked Ron, bud I dink he's all righd – and Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse –'

Neville was cut short by a bang and a yell coming from the dais. In pain, Kingsley was lying on the floor and Bellatrix started running to escape. Dumbledore tried to Stun her, but she deflected the spell already halfway up the steps.

'Harry – no!' Remus shouted as he managed to set himself free from his already loosened grip. Just when he thought it was safe ...

'SHE KILLED SIRIUS!' bellowed Harry. 'SHE KILLED HIM – I'LL KILL HER!'

Bellatrix's robes had already disappeared behind the door, but that wouldn't stop Harry. He scrambled up the stairs, desperately trying to shorten the distance between them. Remus had just started running after the boy when Dumbledore sprinted across the room and he knew he was a much better protector to Harry than he was, not only in the current state, but in any state. Before he knew, he had started walking towards where Mad-Eye still was with Tonks. He crouched carelessly beside him. Her mouth was open in an odd angle, blood was coming from her mouth and hip, her arms were limp next to her body and not even the weight of Sirius's departure was enough to stop him from being relieved when he noticed her chest rising as she breathed.

'How – How is she?' questioned Remus in a murmur reaching for her hand.

'Alive,' growled Moody, the socket of his magical eye empty revealing the inner bits his protégée always thought to be disgusting.

Not being dead was the jackpot in the current situation.

'She's not responding to the Reviving Spell,' Mad-Eye added, blood was still dripping from a nasty wound that spanned from his forehead to his grey hairline. 'If I had my suitcase then maybe – She needs the St. Mungo's.'

Remus nodded.

'I'll take her,' he informed him passing an arm under her legs. 'Go help Kingsley, he was yelling in pain just now.' He knew enough about Auror training to realise how bad it could be and then tilted his head to where Neville still was sitting on the bench, staring, clueless as to what he should do next. 'We must gather the other kids. Neville knows where they are.' Remus placed his right arm under her back and stood up with a groan.

'I'll send word to her parents after we're done here,' Moody told him then thrust her wand in Remus's hand.

He focused on the Ground Floor of the hospital, glad that it was quite easy since he had been there after visiting McGonagall earlier that day, but when he swirled, Remus found himself still at the Death Chamber.

'Anti-Disapparition Jinx. Dumbledore put it up just now.' Moody nodded to the Death Eaters and Remus sighed, heading to the stone steps.

As much as he hated to see her hurt, Remus couldn't help but to feel blessed to be with her unconscious self. There was no risk of her ever remembering him then and he placed a kiss atop of her head as he left the room through the same door they had entered, the same door where she had cast a spell at Lucius Malfoy before any of them had reacted. If he had been proud of her young reflexes back then, he wondered how Mad-Eye had felt. Tonks looked fierce then and now she laid in his arms, unaware of the world.

'You're going to be all right,' he whispered to her. 'I'll make sure of it.'

Remus reached the Room of Doors and tried not to remember the last time he had been there, just a little while before. Sirius was panicking, he was begging to save Harry and now Harry was – He didn't even know for sure how Harry was, but he had Dumbledore who was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared and they _only_ had to face Bellatrix. Remus entered the lift and pressed the button to the Atrium with some difficulty then let himself slid down the wall with her head over his shoulder. The jangling and clattering of the lift made it easier not to listen to his own thoughts, but it was impossible not to remember Sirius and Mad-Eye arguing. Despite being wounded, her face was beautiful, but he could only see them. If Sirius knew would he have come? Remus sighed. Of course he would have. Keeping Harry safe had been a priority of his ever since he left Azkaban – ever since James and Lily ... People could say whatever they wanted about Sirius, but he had been the best godfather to Harry he could be. If only the wizarding world had been fair with him fifteen years ago, then maybe he and Harry could have had an even better relationship, but Sirius did the best he could in the situation he found himself in.

Eventually, they arrived at the Atrium. Remus stood up with Tonks just in time to see Harry holding a golden object which looked a lot like a sculpture's head and disappearing. The Atrium was much more crowded than he thought it would be. Fudge was appalled whilst Dumbledore walked calmly towards him. Press and Aurors and Merlin knew who else were behind the Minister, photographing the destroyed fountain and drawing out their wands, but still stunned and lost as to what they were to do now. Galleons, Sickles and Knuts that were meant to help St. Mungo's now littered the floor. Maybe the battle was the proof that Fudge needed, maybe Sirius would be what Cedric Diggory couldn't.

'You-Know-Who – in the Ministry!' Fudge exclaimed to Dumbledore.

Remus was all too aware of the sound of his shoes echoing through the Atrium as he stepped closer to them and then even louder as he reached the bit where the water from the fountain was now.

'Merlin's beard!' Fudge exclaimed eyeing him and Dumbledore turned around as well. 'Is she –?'

The Minister for Magic talking to _him_? Well, that was a change. Even if Fudge didn't remember what he was ...

Remus shook his head.

'Unconscious.' He licked his lips, eyeing her and walking farther into the Atrium. 'I'm taking her to St. Mungo's. ... But Sirius –'

Dumbledore closed his eyes and nodded, tapping his back lightly as he passed by him.

'Voldemort was here?' Remus asked confused.

Dumbledore nodded.

'I'll inform the Order of all the events of tonight later.'

Well aware of the flashes towards him and how most likely his name would be in the Daily Prophet in the morning, Remus assented, swirling again and this time he entered the darkness of Apparition, appearing one moment later at the Hospital. The loud pop didn't make much difference to get a Healer to attend them and he found himself calling 'Can I get some help here?'

Soon, a few of them wearing the green robes with the wand crossing the bone emblem approached them and conjured a bed where Remus laid her. A full enquiry was thrown at him. What had happened, what she was doing, what hit her ... He could only remember the instructions Mad-Eye gave him last October.

'She's an Auror,' he told them. 'I ... I'm not sure what happened. We were duelling at the Department of Mysteries and Bellatrix – Bellatrix Lestrange knocked her out. I don't know what spell, but ... it was a nasty fall.' The image of her limp body hitting each of the stone steps returned to him. Why couldn't Sirius have just fallen from the top of seats? But then if that meant that she would – He couldn't lose her. Not her, too ... 'Please, help her.'

A reassuring nod and they were taking her away. Remus heard a mediwizard whispering an echo of his words: 'A duel at the Department of Mysteries against Bellatrix Lestrange?' He could only hope they would believe him and help her instead of thinking he was mental and trying to guess what had happened to Tonks. The Ground Floor was empty save for the welcomewitch and a wizard sporting a trunk instead of his nose and waiting for a Healer whilst checking an old edition of the Witch Weekly. Being alone was suffocating. Being alone meant listening to his own thoughts, meant dealing with – No. He couldn't. Remus followed the corridor where Tonks had been taken until he found a room with an open door and there she was ... with holograms of her organs in the air above her and several wands being waved at her. Still breathing.

A Healer noticed him staring and smiled lightly as she came to close the door and the window curtain.

Remus was left with the empty corridor as his only companion. The silence was deafening. It hurt. He didn't bother with conjuring a chair for himself and slid down the wall, sitting down on the marble floor with his fingers gripping his hair tightly.

He pushed away the thoughts of Sirius from his mind and ignored how tight his chest felt. It felt too much like the last time and he still didn't know how he had managed to function after he had heard of all his best friends being either dead or shoved into Azkaban. It was too much. He couldn't deal with that. Not again. Remus forced himself to think of something else.

Voldemort had been at the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. It would have been unthinkable in the First War, but now it was the proof of how much they still weren't prepared for him, even if better prepared than the first time around. He had invaded what was supposed to be the safety for the wizarding community, daring them all to stand against him, proving that he was much more powerful than they thought. If Dumbledore hadn't gone after Harry, _he_ would have and Remus knew he would be no match against Voldemort. All he would be able to do was stand in front of Harry as he killed him, precisely like Lily had died and the boy would be gone despite their sacrifices. At least, now they knew, Fudge couldn't deny that Voldemort was back when he had seen him right before his eyes.

Dora had no idea. No idea how close she had been to Voldemort himself. No idea that Harry had nearly succumbed to him. No idea that Sirius had – Merlin ... who was going to tell her? He would have to do it? Remus wanted to be spared from that, trying to convince Harry already had been awful enough. He was all she had at that moment and unless Moody and Kingsley finished gathering the kids, dealing with the press and stopped at her parents' house before Tonks woke up, Remus knew he would have to do it. He knew her well enough to know that she would wake up asking every question she could think of and he would have to kill her hopes of their mission having gone well.

Time went by with him alone in the corridor, save for a Healer or a patient that passed by him in the middle of the night. All he heard were the murmurs of the Healers inside her room and an occasional grunt. What if Bellatrix had thrown a terrible curse at her? What if the Healers couldn't figure out what was wrong with her? What if Dora never fully recovered? What if she never woke up? What if she just stayed there ... comatose for the rest of her life? He had never told her how she had made him smile without even being there, how he had thought of her numerous times, how she had made him happy by just gracing the world with her existence. It had been for her own good, however. No one could ever say that he had ruined her life. She had never suffered half the prejudice he did. Even if the worst were to happen to her, Tonks had been a prodigy, an Auror, had made Alastor Moody proud, had helped the Order for a year. She hadn't stopped to analyse everything ... How could she think that they could be together when she had all that and he would destroy everything she worked for by holding her hand? He simply didn't have a place in her life.

Eventually, the Healers left the room; albeit somewhat gangling, Remus stood up.

'Are you family?' questioned the same Healer who had closed the door on his face hours before, a middle-aged woman with her blonde hair tied in a bun at the back of her head. She was holding a quill and was making quick notes on a clipboard.

'N-no.' Remus shook his head, wiping his robes. 'I'm-I'm just a friend.' Right.

The Healer made a disapproving face and wrote some more. He knew there was information they were only allowed to divulge to relatives; if Sirius –

'Just tell me if she's going to be all right,' he asked. 'Please.'

'Well, it certainly looks like a certain Bellatrix Lestrange's job and a good one, might I add,' the Healer said, eyes still on the clipboard. 'Quite a few broken bones ... She's in pain ... There are still some lingering effects of a couple curses, but she's young so it looks like that yes, she will make a full recovery.'

'Thank Merlin,' breathed Remus relieved. At least, at the very least, his first request for a miracle would happen.

The Healer smiled at him then counted something on the clipboard before looking at him once more. 'We have her on six different kinds of potions at the moment and we shall keep her here for ... four days should suffice.'

Remus nodded and at last she seemed to have finished her notes on the clipboard.

'Could you just fill with her info here, dear?'

She handed him the clipboard and Remus wrote her name, age and the like at the top of the chart.

'Thank you,' she said as he returned the clipboard. 'Are there any relatives coming? Or should we inform them?'

'Um, no, I don't think so,' he answered. 'My colleague was going to talk to her parents, but there was a lot to deal with. They should be here any minute now.'

'All right,' the Healer said, turning to leave.

'May I see her?' he asked pointing to the door.

'Yes,' she agreed. 'She's asleep though, try not to wake her. If she does, don't let her talk too much for the next few hours. Broken jaw, I reckon it's still sore, so it's best if she rests so it can fully heal first.'

Remus nodded.

'Thank you,' he said gratefully and pushed the door open. Tonks was lying on the bed close to the wall, wearing a green gown and her pink hair was a much lighter shade now. He waved his wand and conjured a chair. Sitting down, he pushed himself closer to the bed and before he knew, Remus had got her hand in his. Without thinking, he brought it up to his lips and kissed the back of her hand.

'You're going to be all right,' he murmured. 'I told you. I know you don't like being here, but you'll be out in a few days.' He sucked in a deep breath then let it out slowly. 'I can't tell you how glad I am that you're going to be all right. You ... you and Harry are all there is left for me now.' Remus saw her anguished features, even as she slept, it was clear that she was still recovering so he leant closer to her and placed a tender kiss to her forehead.

The hologram of her heart still beat above them. Remus let time pass while he watched it, as if to make sure that she was still alive, that he hadn't let her down when he was all she had. At long last, he heard hurried footsteps approaching and let go of her hand at once, pushing his chair a few inches away from the bed whilst trying to look relaxed. An instant later, Andromeda and Ted Tonks entered the room.

'Oh, Nymphadora!'

Remus stood up and forced a smile that must have looked like a grimace to them.

'Thanks,' said Ted offering his hand.

Remus shook it though without much strength.

'I-I just brought her here,' he explained.

Andromeda had her hand on top of her daughter's forehead and her eyes were scanning the holograms absorbing all information. Remus remembered how Dora had told him her mother had entered the Healing Programme for a year, but quit to become an Arithmancer. She was reading it all to make sure her daughter was getting everything she needed.

'Still ...' Ted insisted. 'Mad-Eye told us what happened. Sirius and ... the Ministry.' He eyed his wife; apparently Andromeda was thinking just like Remus was and refusing to ponder for long on the subject of her cousin.

Remus nodded.

'We'll be able to offer more protection now,' he reasoned. 'It's for the best ... people need to be afraid of him.'

Remus informed them of what the Healer had told him and finally Andromeda looked at him. She nodded along and smiled once he had finished.

'I'm sure they'll be here shortly to tell us about their findings.'

'Yeah.' Remus nodded. 'I'm sure. Do let her know of everything though, I don't suppose she'll rest until she knows.' He would have chuckled at other occasion, but it seemed that he no longer had the ability to laugh.

'Will do,' Ted assured him

'Remus?' called Andromeda in a small voice.

He turned to her, raising his eyebrows in a mute question.

'Was it really ... Bellatrix?'

Remus swallowed hard and sighed. He disliked being the one to confirm it, but it was best to tell her the truth so she could protect herself.

'Yes,' he said with a small nod. 'Went for her the moment we entered. Tonks resisted and attacked for a good while, but ...' he trailed off, no one needed to tell Andromeda that her sister was that mad.

'And Sirius?'

Remus nodded once again, handed her Dora's wand and turned to leave.

They both just wanted the best for their daughter, but the company was overwhelming to him. He needed to be alone. Back at the Ground Floor, Remus Disapparated to Grimmauld Place. The outside was just as it was when they left several hours ago. It wasn't Sirius's house anymore ... Remus entered. To his surprise, it wasn't silent as he had expected.

'**Sirius!**' he heard a voice calling. '**Sirius!**'

'If Dumbledore said –'

The voices became aware of his footsteps as Remus neared them. Phineas Nigellus was in his portrait in front of Walburga Black, he seemed to be in shock and she still had the same disgusted expression as ever. Even in life, Remus had never seen that woman happy.

'Have you seen Sirius?' Phineas asked.

Remus looked at him; he breathed in and opened his mouth, but didn't know how to respond to that question. He closed it, a muscle in his jaw tightening.

'Where is Sirius?' Phineas asked more firmly.

Remus lowered his eyes to his shoes and shook his head. He couldn't even face a painting. He figured that that was when Phineas could have exhaled heavily impatient at the lack of answers. If portraits needed to breathe, that is.

'Is my great-great-grandson dead?'

A nod. It was as far as he could go at that moment.

'Pathetic,' Walburga finally spoke. 'Couldn't even leave an heir! A bastard would have sufficed, but noooo!'

'The last of the Blacks is gone,' Phineas muttered.

Remus wasn't sure how, but he managed to close the curtains around her and stopped Sirius's mother from dishonouring her son's memory even further. Phineas had been looking at him in disbelief, but as Remus finished and Mrs Black was finally silenced, he left the painting and he wondered whether he would have gone back to Hogwarts or to another of his pictures to inform other Black ancestors that their lineage had ended.

He climbed the stairs, but something stopped him from going to his room and without making any conscious decision to do so, Remus entered Sirius's room. It was messy and littered across the floor were clothes, letters, pictures and even a dirty plate that his friend had been too lazy to wave his wand and clean, however poorly he might have been able to do the spell, it would have been better than that. Even if Kreacher had been allowed to enter the room, he figured it would have remained the same way, such was the House-elf's will to do his job. In any other occasion Remus would have attempted to clean and organise at least some of the things, but then he found himself not wanting to change an inch of that room. He sat and then slowly lay on the bed with his hands behind his head. The tapestry he and Tonks had made for him was still at the same spot, attached to the ceiling and the Sirius star still shone as bright as the real one was shining outside.

Remus felt his throat closing and his chest tightening as though he was being pulled to an abyss. It was too much. He couldn't deal with it. Careful not to step on anything, he left and closed the door behind him.

'_Squawck! Squawck!_'

Remus sighed. Buckbeak. He went to the last bedroom to see the Hippogriff with a bleeding paw. That was good. That was something he could do. That was automatic. He left and went downstairs to fetch a few rats and healing products. The sun was rising, a bright summer morning with the cleanest sky. Remus didn't understand how there weren't heavy clouds upon heavy clouds with the usual rain in London. Sirius Black had died. How come the world wasn't grey?

* * *

><p>A few hours after Remus had left, Tonks stirred in her sleep. There seemed to be a herd of trolls dancing inside her head, a stinging sensation on her hip and the sound of a heartbeat filled the room. She rubbed her eyes with her cuffs and tried to focus on the white ceiling, blinking.<p>

'Dora? We're here, love,' she heard her father saying and felt his large hand touching her arm. 'You're at St. Mungo's, Remus Lupin brought you here.'

She was at the hospital, but – _the battle!_

'What happened?' she asked focusing on their faces at the side of her bed. Her mother was frowning and her lips were far too thin whereas her father was trying to smile, both of them clearly worried.

'The Expulso Curse is their best guest so far,' Andromeda answered. 'Try not to talk much though, you had a broken jaw.'

'How're you feeling?' Ted asked to which her mother frowned even more at him.

'I'm fine,' Tonks said at once. 'Is Harry OK?'

'Yeah, yeah.' Ted nodded. 'Back at Hogwarts with the others ... but ...' he sighed, sharing a meaningful look with her mother who bit at her lower lip.

Dora frowned.

'... But?'

'Sirius is ...' Her father clenched his teeth and Andromeda leant her head on his shoulder, breathing deeply as if to control herself which only caused Tonks's eyes to widen as she tried to prop herself on her elbow; none of them stopped her. 'He fell through the veil. The veil of the Death Chamber.' Ted licked his lips and her mother shut her eyes close. 'He's gone, Dora.'

Tonks felt a lump forming in her throat.

'He's dead?' Her voice sounded almost foreign to her as if it was someone else's, someone who didn't believe what was being told.

Ted nodded. Andromeda wiped a tear at the corner of her eye.

She fell back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Sirius ... dead. He had spent the last year locked up in a home he hated and now he was gone. It didn't sound like a worthy end. His last joy had probably been to gossip about she and Remus and – _Good Merlin, Remus!_ How was he feeling? As if losing James and Lily wasn't enough now he had lost Sirius, too. And again. If it was possible she felt even worse about her cousin's death now that she knew that the man she loved was suffering worse than she was.

'How was he?'

'We –' Ted cleared his throat. 'We don't know, Dora, he fell through the veil, I don't suppose there's a body to –'

'No ...' Tonks closed her eyes for an instant. 'Remus. How was he? You saw him, didn't you?'

'We did, yes.' He looked at Andromeda. 'He was tired and his robes were a bit torn ... he was sad, Dora, he looked rather miserable.'

Brilliant. That was all she wanted to hear.

Her mother started talking about what the Healers had told her about her condition, undoubtedly not wanting to dwell much further into the matter of Sirius's death, but that was all Tonks thought about. Her big cousin ... It was a pity that the best thing she did for Sirius was to keep him company during some of her free hours at night. Then Remus had refused to spend one more minute than needed with her and they just ... abandoned Sirius on his own. Even if Sirius himself had been sulking in his bedroom much more lately, they should have tried harder. Why didn't she host her birthday party at the Grimmauld Place? Most of her friends wouldn't have been able to attend, but Sirius could have ... On his last week on Earth ... he would have enjoyed. She had chosen her other friends instead of him, however. Now he was dead and he would never ever attend another of her birthday parties and she wouldn't have to choose between him and her friends ever again, it would always be them.

'Nymphadora?!'

'What?'

'Can you remember it?' her mother asked.

'Remember what, Mum?'

'Dromeda ... perhaps we should let her by herself for a bit, yeah?' her father proposed.

'No ...' Tonks shook her head. Never one to like being alone, she was. 'It's OK, you can stay.'

'Really, love, we have to go,' he said in a tone as though letting her know that she hadn't fooled him. 'It's getting late and we have work to do. I have to stop by the office at least for a bit. Got a house in Bexley to show to a bloke at three.'

Ted stood up and kissed her forehead. Andromeda squeezed her fingers and kissed the back of her hand.

'We'll be back tonight,' she promised. 'Take your potions like the Healers tell you to do, all right?'

'How old am I, seven?' Tonks arched an eyebrow at her.

Her mother shook her head slightly amused.

'Get some rest,' Ted advised and got his wife's hand to leave.

'I'll try,' she assured them.

Tonks glanced outside her room's window. Her father had been right, the sun was already high in the sky and she figured it must be around nine or ten. It shone bright on the people walking in the street, she could see the leaves of the trees trembling with the wind. There was barely any cloud, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue; clearly summer was here. It was a hot day just like how she liked, just like Sirius liked as though Earth was paying him a tribute to give them a bright day instead of rain and yet another reason to mope at home. He deserved it, she knew he did. Sirius wasn't the kind of man to want people to be sad because of him. He would have wanted them to put on some music and move on with their lives. Blimey, why couldn't she have her stereo there with her? Even if she could only put The Weird Sisters to play in a low volume, it would have made her morning much better.

* * *

><p>Remus kept himself busy most of the day. If he didn't have any will to clean Sirius's room, he had made of his own impeccable. There wasn't a hair out of place. Though he realised that that was the only room in the house that he could clean, every other inch of the number twelve Grimmauld Place reminded him of a moment with Sirius and without thinking much, he left. Remus walked down the street and then found himself entering the square in front of the house. It was precisely the same way it had been the day before. The plants didn't know that Sirius had died, the bench didn't know that Sirius had died, the plaque didn't know that Sirius had died. His world had been torn apart by the loss of the last of his best friends and people just ... kept going with their lives? But then again when did the world ever care about how he felt?<p>

He went to the Diagon Alley to buy a copy of the Daily Prophet, even if he didn't know whether he would miss that Knut later on, Sirius deserved it. 'HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED RETURNS' was the headline. On the front page there was a picture of Fudge clearly stuttering as he made a statement about Voldemort and what had happened at the Ministry the night before. The picture changed to the wreckage that the Atrium had become after the battle was done. Remus scanned the article and noticed that Dumbledore had returned to his rightful place as the headmaster of Hogwarts, that Sirius's name had been cleaned and he was now, in the eyes of the wizarding community, the man he had always been. The Order of the Phoenix was mentioned as the saviour of Harry who was once more The Boy Who Lived rather than a lunatic who didn't know what he was talking about. The Minister had promised to send pamphlets to all the wizarding residences letting people know how to defend themselves and protect their families. It seemed that Dumbledore was getting out of Fudge what he had been wanting for a year now.

The Grimmauld Place wasn't somewhere he wanted to return to, so Remus went to his own abandoned cottage instead. A little while later a silver phoenix entered the place to tell him with Dumbledore's voice that there would be a meeting at seven to decide their next plans. Functioning on automatic afterwards, Remus set himself to clean the place. He hadn't been there since February and there was dust all over his furniture. He skipped lunch and didn't stop until the place was shining. Then he showered and got the first book he saw, not caring if he had read it already, he just wanted to keep his mind busy. At ten to seven, he Disapparated and entered the Grimmauld Place yet again. A few members were already there, chatting at the drawing-room or drinking in the kitchen. Molly came straight to him the minute she spotted him.

'Oh, Remus ...'

And she pulled him into a hug. Remus patted her back lightly.

'I'm fine, Molly.' It was only a little white lie to make her feel better. Molly had had two children injured yesterday; she didn't need to worry about him, too.

Dumbledore started the meeting shortly after, which was fortunate for Remus was becoming quite bothered by the looks of pity people were shooting at him especially after he poured himself a glass of Firewhisky. He had received the same looks fifteen years before at James and Lily's funeral and yet, none of the members of the Order then had actually reached to help him. A few letters, but he sent them away. He had wanted to be alone then and he would rather be alone now. However, those were peaceful times, now he had to soldier on. The copy of the Daily Prophet under his bed at the cottage from the first of November 1981 announced that Voldemort had died, today's announced his return. Both his best friends had died in fatidic days for the wizarding world. When he died, the Prophet would announce the price of the Galleon increasing in the financial market most likely.

The headmaster began explaining the events at the Ministry, Voldemort arriving to duel him in the end and how Kreacher had told him everything he needed to know laughing because the Malfoys' plan had worked, then moved on to the Muggle Prime Minister security, which Kingsley said that the Auror Headquarters would take care of, and asked who would volunteer to see Harry off the Hogwarts Express in five days' time. Remus raised his hand. He would have agreed to anything to keep himself busy now that he didn't have to spend several hours a week watching a prophecy, but seeing Harry was something he would love to do.

'We'll be there for Ron and Ginny anyway,' said Molly.

'Tonks will want to come too,' Mad-Eye brought forth, lowering his hand.

'Check with her first, Alastor,' Dumbledore asked.

'Aye.' Moody nodded.

'And if you could have a little chat with Harry's relatives,' the headmaster requested, 'the boy has more than his fair share of responsibilities. It would be a nice change to be treated well while he's in the Muggle world.'

Dumbledore ended the meeting by announcing that he still wanted people to watch over the Death Eaters' houses though they were to be much more careful now. Voldemort would try to blackmail people now that he had no reason to hide and he was not afraid to go on with his threats, he would kill anyone who dared to oppose to him. Remus knew that all too well, he remembered the despair on people's faces, the fear to wake up and find your family dead ... his mother ... James and Lily ... and now – Remus returned to his cottage for the night. He didn't want to sleep, but he had already spent the night before awake and his eyes were heavy, the tiredness was taking its toll. His dreams were filled with images of Sirius falling through the veil over and over. Remus ran to him, he tried to save him, he tried to pull him by the shoe and bring him back, but it was always too late. He woke up with a sudden jerk in the middle of the night and didn't feel inclined to go back to sleep so he put on his robes and went to St. Mungo's.

The Hospital was just as empty as the night before, but Tonks seemed to sleep a bit more peacefully now. She looked so beautiful ... If he was honest with himself, he wanted to wake her up. He would just talk to her ... about nothing and everything. He had always enjoyed talking with her, being in her company, seeing her smile ... but Remus knew she needed to recover so he resigned to watch her sleep for an hour instead. What he didn't know was that she would have loved if he had waked her up. She would have loved to talk to him, to know how he was feeling, to take away some of his pain, to simply hug him. Remus didn't know that she was hating every minute she had spent in that room, that she wanted to go back to action, that she just wasn't meant to be convalescent.

Remus didn't know that her next few days would be a mess, that she had even enchanted her bed sheets to tie themselves in several different kinds of knots just to entertain herself. He didn't know that despite her friends' visits, the get well card from Ginny, Mad-Eye coming to ask whether she wanted to join the party to see Harry off on Saturday, despite all of those, her days were boring, even if memories of Sirius from before Azkaban filled her mind and she grieved his death ... alone.

Although she wouldn't admit it, she was still in pain, but it lessened with each passing day. The number of potions she had to take every day had also decreased as the days passed or as her father said one afternoon when he came to check on her: 'They were being replaced by a creamier, tastier and less healthy version, also known as ice cream.' Ted had smuggled in a bowl for each of them for their dessert on Thursday for 'That's how you make women happy, right? Besides, old Florean still remembers your favourite.' Tonks enjoyed the bubble-gum ice cream and glad to have a moment to simply be his daughter.

'Delicious, Dad, but when I'm out of here, you and I are going to have some proper ice cream, with sprinkles and toppings,' she promised. 'Thanks, though.'

A kiss on his cheek and he had left to work. Unfortunately, Ted had not taken the empty bowls with him and when Andromeda arrived half an hour later, she glared at her daughter sure that she was still the only mature adult of their family. Thank Merlin the Healers didn't see the rubbish, otherwise she would be forced to stay for another day.

Saturday morning finally came and Tonks was discharged after one last check up from the Healer. In all honesty, she had hoped Remus would put away his quarrel with her feelings for him and come to see her, but he hadn't. She had no idea how he was dealing with Sirius's death, how he was feeling after having lost another best friend, what he was doing or who he had for company. Her only comfort was that Mad-Eye had told her that Remus would be there to say goodbye to Harry as well, so she would see him later then. Her parents insisted that she stayed at their house so she headed to Cambridge after signing the discharge papers. There, Ted and Andromeda were fussing over her whilst she stayed in her old bedroom listening to her favourite band in the stereo until she had to return to London so Dora put on her favourite pink hair, a purple T-shirt of The Weird Sisters and some heavy patched jeans to be among the Muggles.

The King's Cross Station was beautiful with the sunlight that entered through the dirt glass. Mad-Eye was using his bowler hat to cover his magical eye and Remus had a tired expression. He greeted her with kind eyes and smile whereas her old mentor contorted his scarred face in what she knew to be a small smile. Fred and George donning lurid green dragonskin jackets grinned identically at her, they stood out more than their parents with their mismatched Muggle clothes. Molly took her hand in hers with a warm smile and asked quite a few times how she was.

'I'm fine, Molly. Honest,' she assured her. 'Ready for the next one.'

Mrs Weasley shot her a reproachful look, but Tonks grinned in response. Well, it was impossible not to think that there wouldn't be a next one now.

'I'm quite certain that's them over there,' said Remus eyeing a family several feet away from them.

The fat boy resembled his moustached father quite a lot, though he had clearly inherited his mother's blonde hair. She had a long neck and was taking advantage of it to spy on a passer-by's magazine.

Moody looked at Tonks with his normal eye.

'Our one job is to make sure Harry has a half decent summer,' he growled.

'He has a lot going on,' added Remus. 'Doesn't need his only family badgering him.'

'Badgering is not enough to what they do to him,' Molly interrupted. 'He's owled us asking for food! It's horrible!'

Tonks nodded smirking and Remus's hard expression seemed to soften a bit.

'If they don't, they'll have the Order to answer to,' she brought forth.

'Here he comes,' said Arthur.

They saw the ticket inspector leave the platform and gesture for the kids to leave in pairs or trios so to not alarm the Muggles.

'Ron! Ginny!' cried Molly the instant she saw them crossing and hurried to hug them all. 'Oh, and Harry, dear – how are you?'

'Fine,' Harry told her.

Arthur turned to Hermione's parents and Tonks neared Ginny. Remus waited until Mrs Weasley let go of the boy and turned to Hermione to approach him.

'Hello, Harry.'

'Hi ...' he replied. 'I didn't expect ... what are you all doing here?'

'Well,' Remus began smiling slightly, 'we thought we might have a little chat with your aunt and uncle before letting them take you home.'

'I dunno if that's a good idea,' Harry told him at once.

'Oh, I think it is,' Moody barked nearing them then, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder, he asked 'That'll be them, will it, Potter?'

Harry leant a bit to the left to see and nodded.

'Ah, Harry!' exclaimed Arthur leaving Hermione's parents. 'Well – shall we do it then?'

'Yeah,' agreed Mad-Eye. 'I reckon so, Arthur.'

Both of them led the way to the Dursleys and were followed by Remus and Tonks as well as the kids.

'Good afternoon,' greeted Arthur. 'You might remember me, my name's Arthur Weasley.'

Vernon glared at him, but said nothing. Petunia kept looking around apparently feeling both frightened and embarrassed. Dudley seemed to want to learn to Disapparate on the spot. Clearly, the Dursleys didn't want them there and the Order wasn't going to enjoy the conversation either, but it was just something that needed to happen.

'We thought we'd just have a few words about Harry,' continued Arthur.

'Yeah,' growled Moody. 'About how he's treated when he's at your place.'

Vernon frowned and turned to Mad-Eye.

'I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house –'

'I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley,' Moody replied.

Tonks found herself smirking. She loved Mad-Eye, but he could lose perspective over name-calling.

'Anyway, that's not the point,' she interjected to which Petunia shut her eyes closed, as though her words had physically pained her. 'The point is, if we find out you've been horrible to Harry –'

'—and make no mistake, we'll hear about it,' added Remus with a pleasant smile.

'Yes,' said Arthur, 'even if you won't let Harry use the fellytone –'

'_Telephone_,' corrected Hermione in a whisper.

'Yeah,' Mad-Eye continued, 'if we get any hint that Potter's been mistreated in any way, you'll have us to answer to.'

'Are you threatening me, sir?' Vernon asked loudly as though he expected to get them to stop if other people heard it.

'Yes, I am,' Moody answered at once, clearly glad that he had understood it so quickly.

Tonks crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk on the corner of her lips.

'And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?' enquired Vernon.

'Well ...' Mad-Eye pushed his bowler hat to show his eye moving sinisterly. 'Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley.' He turned to Harry. 'So, Potter ... give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along ...' Petunia gave a small whimper. 'Bye, then, Potter.' Moody grasped Harry's shoulder for a moment then let go.

'Take care, Harry,' Remus said quietly. 'Keep in touch.'

'Bye, Harry,' added Tonks with a wave of her hand.

'Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can,' Molly whispered as she hugged him.

'We'll see you soon, mate,' said Ron shaking his hand.

'Really soon, Harry,' added Hermione. 'We promise.'

Harry nodded, smiled at them and raised his hand in farewell before turning to leave the station.

Remus sighed with a small smile on his lips. Their mission was accomplished. For the next few weeks, Harry would be safe thanks to Lily's protection. He turned to Dora and his smile only widened at the sight of her grin. It meant more than he could express in words to see her alive and well beside him. If he had indeed lost Sirius because of his begging for her not to be dead, he had yet to regret it. Though, simply because he couldn't choose, he knew he would always beg for her life if she had it threatened first. Remus had loved Sirius like a brother, but what he felt for her was ... different. More. Tonks reached for his hand and squeezed it lightly. Although he thought she was crossing a line she knew he didn't want her to, Remus was glad to have her. If he had lost her and Harry on that night as he had been so close to, he had no idea where he would be at that moment, but Harry was safe with his family and she was beside him. With Dora he had no doubt that it would be easier to soldier on.

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><p><strong>AN:** Hey guys! So I'm finally done with the first book, the longest one unless I change my plans drastically and I'm pretty sure I won't do that. I honestly teared up while writing this chapter, then again while editing it and well, I hope you did too XD Also, I just put another 100k words and it never fails to impress me; 300k here and 400k in total, just ... wow! And Hayley, I saw it! So much like them!

Thanks so much for all your reviews; I know you weren't exactly looking forward for this chapter, but leave what you thought of it here, will you? Takes a second, but means a lot! Thank you!


	44. B2 43 Eulogy

**A/N:** Hey, everyone! Finally one more chapter! And on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts ... Thanks once again for all your amazing reviews and would you please take a minute to write what you thought of this chapter in the box down there, pretty please! Thank you so much!

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><p><span><strong>BOOK 2: Underground<strong>

**CHAPTER 43: Eulogy**

'You're going back to Grimmauld Place?' asked Tonks before Remus could look away from her.

'Uh, yes,' he found himself answering. 'I still have a few things to collect.'

'You're not going to live there anymore?'

'No.' Remus shook his head then looked around to make sure they were not being overheard. 'Dumbledore reckons it's dangerous to keep it as our Headquarters since we don't know who it belongs to. He left it all to Harry according to his will, but he was the last Black so it might be linked to some sort of family heirloom thus it would belong to the Malfoys.' The headmaster had said those words to the Order just a couple days ago and Remus wasn't quite sure how he had assimilated it, living on autopilot as he had been.

'I'll go with you,' she told him promptly with a small smile.

'If you think I need protection –'

'I didn't say anything about protection,' she stated though she certainly had thought of it.

The Weasleys were already heading out of the station and Tonks waved her hand to them, Remus offered them a short nod when Molly turned back to look at them to say goodbye, she looked quite disappointed with her boys being too busy talking about the twins' jackets to bid farewell. The Grangers were already gone and Mad-Eye leant on the nearest platform and disappeared with a pop. It was just them. Tonks caught his hand and together they Disapparated on the spot.

Silence had ruled the Grimmauld Place over the last couple of days and it was no different on that afternoon. Remus and Tonks entered and she led him to the drawing-room. He wasn't quite sure what she had in mind by going in there, but he followed her and they sat there in silence for a moment. He didn't like being in there. Not anymore. The three of them had spent so many happy hours in that room and he hated how the memories seemed to return, crushing him. Remus hated even more how that burnt spot on the Black tapestry seemed to shine brighter than anything in the entire house, catching his glance and forcing him to stare at it in a way that was sure to bring tears to his eyes at any moment. Merlin, no ... he couldn't take it. There must be something else to think about.

'Fudge's being pressured to leave the post,' he informed her.

'Yeah?'

Remus nodded.

'Now that it's clear how bad his actions were, how he should have taken precautions to protect the wizardkind, people are tired of him. We need someone stronger. There will probably be an election soon.'

'No candidates yet?' she asked.

'No ...'

Deafening silence ruled once more.

'I miss him so much,' Tonks finally said, leaning her elbows on her knees and rubbing her face.

She watched him sigh heavily and lick his lips before answering, 'So do I.'

Wizards and witches all over the country would finally receive the guidance to protect themselves and that was a relief, but it didn't seem enough. They had been safe with Voldemort hiding and Sirius alive. Why couldn't they go back in time?

'What happened, Remus?' she asked in a small voice.

He sighed, eyes locked somewhere in front of him. It was quite clear that he was tired, sad even, but definitely not enough for someone in his mid-thirties who had just watched the last of his best friends die.

'He was fighting Bellatrix,' Remus began and Tonks felt her heart sink immediately. Bellatrix. 'Dumbledore had arrived and gathered most of the Death Eaters, but he was still fighting her. He – ... He actually mocked her for missing a curse. Laughed at her. And she made damn sure not to miss the next one.' He seemed unable to look her in the eye, so he cleared his throat and glanced at the House-elves' heads. 'Hit him straight in the chest – he was too close to the archway ... Harry was running to him – he was going to try and get him, but he'd already fallen.' Remus exhaled heavily, swallowing hard against a lump in his throat. 'There was nothing I could do,' he added as if apologising and burying his face in his hand.

'Hey ...' Tonks got his right hand, making an effort to pull it and force him to look at her, but Remus was adamant. '_I_ was fighting Bellatrix. Remember? If I had – It's my fault. It's my fault Sirius is dead. If I could have just held her for a little longer –'

'No.' Still staring at the floor, Remus shook his head. 'No, Tonks. It isn't your fault. I should have been able to put some sense into his head so he'd stay ... I knew he wasn't in shape – I knew he wasn't fit for duelling – I knew –' He exhaled heavily and even his puff faltered, as if he was holding back a sob. 'You did your best.'

'You don't know that,' she retorted at once.

'I do,' Remus told her, his voice even more hoarse than usual. 'You always give your best, Tonks. You're not the sort of person to do a half-arsed job. When you put your head into something, you'll come up with ideas to solve problems, you'll think hard until you can fix a flaw in a plan. You'll give it all. Fighting a Death Eater ...? It's simply impossible for you to hold anything back.'

A throaty chuckle escaped her. How could he possibly think of admitting that he didn't love her? How could he do it when every inch of him screamed otherwise? His premature lines left no doubt that he was sad, but the small smile that he put out just for her, the way his eyes shone when he talked about her, the woman he loved, that was enough to send her heart racing. So handsome. So beautiful.

Tonks wouldn't have been able to stop herself if she wanted to. Her arms wrapped around him and she pulled Remus into a tight hug, holding him to her and rubbing his back. Her eyes closed as she wondered what she could say in response to the love declaration she had just heard. No, she hadn't heard the three words she longed to hear, but every word that left his mouth told her that he loved her and no one could change that. Slowly, his arms wrapped around her too and he patted her back soothingly. Her hand gripped the back of his robes. She had come to comfort him and here he was, comforting her. When would he learn that he was worth other people's sympathy? Time? Love? Respect? It wasn't his place to step aside and make everyone's lives better. He was miserable and he had to stop for a moment to care for his own feelings.

Was she ... crying? No. Definitely not. Her eyes were just watery for some reason.

'Your best is enough,' Remus spoke after a moment. 'That's all the Order wants. We couldn't possibly ask for more.'

'You see what we're doing, don't you?' Tonks asked taking in a deep breath and blinking to clear her eyes. At last, they broke apart. 'It's not our fault. We're not to blame. We both did our best and we couldn't have stopped Sirius from dying.'

He didn't answer her. He simply tried to deal with the lump in his throat, with the sorrow, with the abyss he was falling to, but he just missed Sirius. So bloody much.

She wanted to say something, but nothing seemed enough. What people usually said in times like these always strike her as rubbish. _Sirius isn't really gone, he lives on in our hearts._ Rubbish. He wasn't here anymore. They couldn't talk to him anymore. They couldn't hug him anymore. Memories were all that was left of their friend. There wasn't even a body so they could say goodbye and make it a tangible symbol of the war they had been fighting for a year. Remus wouldn't be able to even say a eulogy at the funeral. Sirius's eulogy would be the memories.

''Bout a year after he escaped Azkaban,' Tonks started, 'he showed up at my parents' house. They were both inside, but I was pissed at them for being overprotective after a mission that didn't work quite as well as we thought so I had gone in to the garden for while and there I was, angry at life and cursing each one of my mum's plants when he appeared right before my eyes. Held my wand out, but I didn't know what to do! He was the most wanted man in Britain was standing in front of me with that messy hair of his and smiling.' She smiled, shaking her head in amusement. 'I was pointing my wand at him, but he didn't even try to defend himself, he just – he just stayed there and said "You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you." I'd gone through hell at the Office when he escaped, promised I'd do my job if I ever saw him, but I was just stuck there, pointing my wand to him. I asked what he wanted and he just said "I'd like to talk to your mum for starters. She home?" like we'd seen each other the week before or something.'

Remus couldn't help it, she was fascinating. He looked at her as she told the story, the tiniest smile breaking his lips.

'I didn't know what to say to him so I got my badge and showed him and told him I was an Auror now and he went "Are you? It'd be a shame for you to send an innocent, unarmed bloke back to Azkaban, wouldn't it? I didn't kill those people. Thought I'd tell you lot what happened over a meal 'cause I've been eating rats on the streets. Thought I was safe here, but looks like I should've gone to another relative's house. Oh wait –" He knew how to break me. Thirteen years without seeing me and he knew how to break me. I escorted him home under the tip of my wand and called mum and dad. They were stunned for a moment, but he repeated it to them and dad hurried to the pantry to get him something to eat. He always had a soft heart. Mum was a bit wary, but he told us what happened and – we couldn't not believe him. Hadn't been easy to believe he was guilty the first time and I was just a kid, then ... I wondered how I had let them convince me that he'd killed James.

'He stayed for a few hours; showered, stocked up some food, mum really wanted to cut his hair, but he said the people had to recognise him whenever he tried to outwit them about his location. Dad actually wanted him to stay, hide him in the house. But Kings had gone talk to my mum when he ran away 'cause they knew we were the only relatives he really had. Threw a full enquiry at her and made her promise that she'd contact the Aurors if she knew of anything. Of course she never said anything, but she was afraid they'd come looking for him and Sirius knew that, too, kept talking about Harry. I don't suppose he had hopes of staying, but ...' Tonks shrugged a shoulder, her face losing some of the cheerfulness from a few moments before. 'Mum told me he came by again months later, but I wasn't around. Next time I saw him, he was inviting me to the Order. And then I met you.' She turned to look at him with a grin.

Remus smiled lightly in return.

'And you?' she asked. 'When did you saw him first after Azkaban?'

'At Hogwarts,' he answered. 'Just a few weeks before you saw him, I reckon. He was around the castle so he probably saw me first, but it was the day before I resigned. It was a full moon and I was waiting for my last goblet of Wolfsbane from Severus when I saw Harry, Ron and Hermione leaving the castle with Peter. Then Sirius got Ron and dragged him to the Whomping Willow, ended up breaking his leg, it was a right mess. Nevertheless, I saw them and I went after them. I saw Peter – Well, I didn't see him exactly. We made a map. Whilst we were at school, we made a map of the castle and it showed everyone wherever they were.'

Tonks's eyes widened for that was even weirder than her cousin dragging Ron to a tree that fights back.

'Even the professors? Filch?'

'Everyone.'

'Why didn't I have that map while I was at Hogwarts?' she asked rhetorically. 'Could have had far less detentions.'

Remus chuckled.

'Filch confiscated from us on our last year and with the war raging, we couldn't be arsed to form a plan to get the map back. It wasn't essential for us anymore. Anyhow, Harry had the map somehow and I confiscated from him because I thought Sirius might find it and he'd know exactly how to use the map to find Harry and kill him. See, I still thought he was guilty.'

'I've noticed,' she pointed out. 'Go on.'

'I saw them with Peter and the map never lies. The map showed Peter's name. Harry'd seen him earlier that year as well, so it couldn't be my imagination. I knew that if Peter was alive then Sirius couldn't have killed him and everything started to fit, everything started to make sense. I went through the same shock of not knowing how I could have ever believed that Sirius had killed James. He'd never do that. He'd _never_ do that. So when I arrived there, I'd realised most of what had happened. We knew there was a spy because the Death Eaters knew all of our plans whenever we were on missions or rescuing someone. Peter had been James and Lily's secret keeper, but Sirius hadn't trusted me ever since I started working with werewolves so he convinced James and Lily not to tell me about the change, thinking I was the spy.

'Everything fit. I arrived there and I felt so guilty. Sirius had accepted me as his friend, he was abused by his family for being friends with a werewolf, he had turned into a bloody Animagus for me and I had thought he'd sold James and Lily to Voldemort, killed his best friend, killed a dozen innocent people in the street. I never even visited him. Sirius looked at me and he knew that I didn't think he was a murderer anymore. He wanted to kill Peter right there, but I convinced him to wait a little longer so we could tell the story to the kids. Particularly Harry and Ron had the right to know, Peter had been Ron's rat for all those years. We told them everything, from our friendship to the day James died and what had happened. Harry clung to every word. He'd been happy in my classes and when I taught him the Patronus Charm in extra classes, but I'd never seen his eyes shining at the mention of his father ...

'We turned Peter back and we – we were about to kill him. We were about to kill him when Harry stopped us. Sirius was impatient, but Harry told us that his dad wouldn't have wanted his best friends to become murderers and that Peter could tell everyone the truth and Sirius could be free again. Smarter than all of us, that boy. Of course it didn't quite work that way. We got out of the Shack –'

'The Shack?' Tonks frowned. 'You said Sirius had taken Ron to the Whomping Willow.'

'Yes, well ... The Whomping Willow is the entrance to the Shrieking Shack. Dumbledore planted it because of me. That's where I transformed whilst at school. Madam Pomfrey was starting as the matron when I started Hogwarts and I'm still thankful that she was so helpful and understanding of my condition.'

Tonks shook her head.

'Did you and I go to the same Hogwarts castle to study? I'm starting to think I knew nothing of that place.'

'We had to make the map, you see. And it was all because of me, it was there so other students wouldn't approach, it doesn't count.' Remus chuckled, scratching the back of his neck disconcerted. 'My wolf was – I was the spirits that terrified the villagers for seven years, my screams whilst turning, biting and scratching myself when I was a kid and when we got out ... I started turning there again ... right in front of them. I went to save them and I became the real danger. Sirius jumped on me – as a dog, of course – trying to save the Harry and the others from me. I don't remember anything after that. For all I know, I went to the Forbidden Forest for that's where I woke up when the sun rose. I realised no one could know where I was and dragged myself to my office.'

_Naked_, she knew. He didn't have to say it. Remus had shredded his robes and didn't have his wand on him to conjure robes for himself. No, he had to walk, wounded and bloodied all the way from the Forest to the Defence Against the Dark Arts office before the castle woke up. And to think that she had been sleeping comfortably in her bed when he was in desperate need of help ...

Her hand found his, lacing their fingers together and squeezing it. Remus knew he should have pulled away, but he lacked the strength to do so and instead, caressed her hand with his thumb.

'Thank Merlin, I didn't hurt anyone, but Sirius had escaped with Buckbeak and Fudge himself was at Hogwarts for both of them. Do you recall that the Malfoy boy had been attacked by Buckbeak and he was sentenced to death?'

Tonks frowned.

'Vaguely.'

'From what I understood it was more pressure from his family than anything, he had disobeyed an order from Hagrid, got too close and Buckbeak attacked him; just a cut on the forearm. At least Harry and Hermione saved Buckbeak before he could be killed and Sirius escaped on him,' Remus sighed. 'Severus had let it slip that I'm a werewolf and I just couldn't stay anymore. The Minister knew, reporters, it was on the Prophet. I knew it was only a matter of time before angry letters started to arrive and the parents demanded that I didn't teach their children. Dumbledore tried to intervene, but I resigned. I could have killed someone, could've bitten a student. It was too dangerous for me to stay.' He shook his head, running the fingers of his free hand through his hair. 'It's my fault. Sirius was running away like a criminal, stuck here all that time because of me, because I didn't remember to stay in the Shack.'

Blimey, Remus was crying.

Tonks knew that it was exactly what she had been hoping for when she came with him. Remus didn't look at all like someone who had watched the last of his best friends die, he was far too happy and she knew it could only be because he wasn't grieving Sirius's death. She had anticipated him to cry, to try to run away from it, to yell, to break things, to throw out of his life once more. However, what she didn't anticipate was for her chest to tighten so much at the sight of his tears. Tonks cupped his cheek in her hand, a weak smile on her lips as she cleaned the tears out of his face.

'Shh! Don't say that ...'

'But it's the truth. It's the truth, Dora,' he choked, more tears falling down his cheeks. 'Peter left to join Voldemort that night, had I not forgotten, we could've postponed it –'

'Postponed it until when, Remus?' she asked matter-of-factly. 'Voldemort would rise at some point. We couldn't have stopped that if we wanted to. Dumbledore knew that.'

'It's my fault.'

'Stop blaming yourself, Rem,' she said, pulling him to another tight embrace.

Remus let out a sob. There was no denying her own tears now. When had been the last time she had cried? She didn't even remember ...

'It's not your fault. You were trying to save them. I would have done the same thing.'

'We're not prepared. We can't –'

'Then we'll do our best,' Tonks stated. 'And it'll be enough. We won't stop until he's dead, all right? Good will win. I can't believe there won't be any sort of punishment for someone who does the atrocities he does. We won't let him win.'

Remus pulled away to look at her and her tear-stained cheeks, though he still kept his hands on her shoulders and hers remained on his waist. Except for the same fierceness in her eyes, Tonks didn't resemble his mother at all. Yet, at that moment, he was instantly reminded of her. Hope. Her name already said it all. His mother had taught him to keep going, to never stop fighting, to believe that the future was worth living for. She had taught him to never give up for he would never know what was in store for him. Right now, Sirius was dead and Remus knew he would never return, never cross the veil back like Harry so desperately wanted him. Tomorrow though, Voldemort might be the dead one and children would be free to run around the streets at dark once more. It took one special kind of woman to believe in that, to be that optimistic; one like Hope Lupin, one like Nymphadora Tonks.

Remus offered her a fond smile. She was so wonderful.

'We will,' he assured her. 'We'll do everything we can. We can't let Sirius die in vain.'

She smiled wide at the sight of his remotely happy face.

'We won't,' she asserted, burying her face in his chest for a short instant.

With an affectionate kiss to her forehead, Remus left her arms to stand up.

'I have to get the rest of my belongings.'

And Tonks was left to watch him walk out of the room. She felt incredibly satisfied with those confidences they had shared, as though she didn't need to kiss him to be intimate with him and being with Remus had always touched her in a way that transcended the physical. They had connected on deeper level long before either of them realised the attraction. Remus was just silly enough to think that it didn't mean anything, that as long as things between them didn't turn to be physical, they would be all right. How could he not feel that? It was so obvious now, impossible to deny it that she was just an Order colleague to him.

She followed him out of the drawing-room, up the staircase and into his room. Tidy as ever. Although, to be fair, even her father would have been able to keep that room tidy considering how many things were in there. Remus was collecting tiny objects from a drawer in the dresser to his pocket.

'Almost done, huh,' Tonks commented, glancing around.

'Yes,' he confirmed with a nod. 'Spent the last few days moving back to my old cottage.'

'I would have helped you if I weren't – you know, stuck in that bed having to Charm my covers to avoid being bored and drinking all those awful potions.'

He dismissed her by shaking his head. Her time was better spent by focusing on getting well. Closing the drawer, he cast a last look around. There was only a photograph on a shelf, one they had taken months before with the whole Order. Sirius was smirking, running a hand through his messy hair. He and Tonks in the picture were smiling at each other, though she was grinning widely and he looked rather tired.

'I wish we could go back, too,' she remarked as if reading his mind, having come near him.

Remus pocketed the picture; it was useless to think of such things.

'I don't think this needs to be said, but ...' Tonks started, 'I know things aren't the best between us, but ... I'm your friend, all right? No matter what, I'm still your friend. If you want to talk or just-just cry with me, 'cause apparently I can do that too.'

She chuckled lightly and he let out a humourless laughter.

'It doesn't matter,' she continued. 'You know where I live, you can come to my flat any time. Any time, Remus. In the middle of the night, early in the morning, whenever you want. If I'm not there, you can wait for me. I'll make time for you.'

Remus opened his mouth to answer, but the lump in his throat was forming again. He nodded, clearing his throat.

'Thank you,' he murmured. No one had ever done to him what she was pledging to do. All his friends had died – all, except her – and she was offering to take the role, to share his burdens when she knew he had ruined all their lives. It was his fault ... Had he been a better friend for James ... Had he stayed in the Shack for Sirius ... And now Tonks ...

Tonks stood on her tiptoes, pressing her lips firmly to his. She couldn't take anymore of his eyes on her, she wanted more – needed more. He felt so good, her tongue licking his lips, his mouth opening to her, her arms clinging to his, his desperate left hand coming under her T-shirt, the right one cupping her nape ...

There was his brain screaming at him, panicking over what the bloody hell he was doing. And there was his heart cherishing how good she felt pressed against his, her smell invading his lungs, the desire she had just for him ... Remus didn't know exactly how it had happened, but suddenly her legs were around his waist, her hot breath on him as she sucked down his neck, his fingers were in her bright pink hair. When had he started loving pink? She was intoxicating ... and he was going to ruin her life. Remus sucked in a sharp breath. Blimey, no, he couldn't do it. He would never forgive himself if he did.

He reached for her feet, disentangling her legs.

'Remus?' Tonks asked tentatively.

Swallowing hard, he lowered her so her feet were touching the floor once more.

'We can't,' he said through clenched teeth.

'No!' she exclaimed. 'We can! You just can't get your head around this – You assume I don't want this – us! That my life would be ruined! That everything would fall apart if we just got together!'

'Because it would!' he retorted. 'You haven't got a clue what you're asking from me!'

'I do! I'm old enough to know what I want! You have no right to make that decision for me!'

'**You don't know what you want!**' Remus shouted. 'You think we'd kiss and be happy forever and ever? No! You act as though you didn't know how I'm treated out of here! Even in the Order, it isn't all happiness – You think I don't notice the way Mundungus always sits across the table from me? Or how – Do you know – That night in the Shack ... Ron had a broken leg, he was almost fainting with pain ... and I approached him to help him a bit and do you know what he said to me? Do you know what he said to me? He said "_Get away from me, werewolf!_" Ron! I'm not talking about a random stranger in a pub or a member of an important family. No, I'm talking about Ron, someone from our close circle, someone I had taught and helped for a year, someone who was in pain and would rather pass out than let me help him because of what I am!'

Tonks was impassive. She had her arms folded over her chest and if any emotion was crossing her features, it was impatience.

'I don't care what Ron said to you,' she told him. 'I don't care what the bloody pope said to you! I don't care what Fudge said to you! I love you!'

Remus stepped closer to the door.

'Don't you understand?' he questioned, staring at the floor. 'It didn't matter how anyone felt about me – my condition changes everything!'

'I became your friend knowing that you're a werewolf!' Tonks reminded him. 'I became your partner knowing that you're a werewolf! I fell for you knowing that you're a werewolf! It doesn't matter to me! And to the hell with everyone who thinks you're any less because you turn once in a month! You're a wonderful bloke and I love you!'

A sigh and a shake of his head.

'Whatever this is ...' Remus said eyes still on the floor. 'This has to stop. This has to end.'

He vanished on the spot, leaving behind a fuming Tonks with tears streaming down her face, but this time, they were also angry ones.


	45. 44 Nothingness

**A/N: **Hey guys! I know this took forever, I'm really sorry, but things got pretty complicated here on my side lately. I didn't plan to take this long to write this chapter but oh well. I also don't plan to take long to write the next one but looks like I'm no longer in control of my life. XD Anyway, I hope you lot like this chapter 'cause I had a lot of fun writing it! ^^ Thanks once again for all your wonderful reviews, they're really amazing and I love you guys for taking your time and writing to me, so would you be a dear and leave what you thought of this chapter in the box below? Thank you!

Enjoy!

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><p><span><strong>CHAPTER 44: Nothingness<strong>

How hard could it be to get ready for a wedding? Dress robes, skin potions, hair spells for even if Tonks could morph her hair however she wanted to, she couldn't make it tie and shine on its own. Barely a quarter hour into her attempts, her patience had ended and she resorted to Apparating at her parents' home. If anyone could help her, it was Andromeda and her mother simply gave her a look and told her to sit, not another word after she gesticulated to her hair. That was the reason as to why she would never have that kind of pompousness in her wedding. Well, she wouldn't have a wedding to begin with. Tonks disliked the sheer thought of spending hours getting ready for any occasion and she was quite lucky that she wasn't a member of the Black family. Formal events every other week since she was a little girl? No, thank you. It wasn't a coincidence that she was the daughter of a renegade Black.

When Voldemort could be attacking people, getting your hair done was a terrible waste of time. But, well, friends wasted time for each other and so, here she was, after a long time spent on filling all the requisites to enter a church, she had arrived and quickly headed to the table on the corner to leave the set of pots she had bought as a gift for them. Undoubtedly, Tonks was thrilled for her friend finally getting her big day still, she couldn't help but thinking that after five days in bed, she would love some action - though she certainly didn't want it here, at the wedding. Almost a week after the battle at the Ministry, Tonks could hardly wait to go back to work, but thanks to Rachel, all she received was a few hours at the Auror Headquarters on that morning. Even the Head of her Department, Amelia Bones, had come and given her a special welcome back, congratulating Tonks on what she had done at the Department of Mysteries. Though, even as Ms Bones smiled, it was quite clear that things weren't easy now that the war had officially begun. She had seemed more tired and far older than Tonks had ever seen in all her years of walking at the Department of Law Enforcement. Tonks's question on how she was simply got a shrug of her shoulder as an answer. Who was indeed _fine_ these days? And though she had a lot on her plate, Amelia Bones could deal with it all.

The band playing was the complete opposite of what Tonks was used to hearing, but as much as she loved Rachel, her friend would never hire a rock band to her wedding. Thus, the guests were doomed to hear the so-called classics the whole time. Well, she would have to find other ways to keep herself entertained since the violins, cellos, flutes and the like were most definitely going to be ignored. She wished Remus were there, to play the piano if not to keep her company for she was sure that The Weird Sisters in the piano like he had played to her would be enough to get away as music fit for a wedding in her friend's point of view. Rachel, of course, had yet to come, but it didn't take her long to find her other friends. Lucy was stunning in a simple, yet fancy black robes and her curly hair tied in a chic bun. Liv had a stylish coiffure and wore crimson robes which matched the navy blue ones of the man beside her. Alex, Tonks figured, the bloke she had been 'quite serious about' for about a year and yet, hadn't been introduced to any of them. Until today it seemed.

She approached the bench, grinning at her friends and hugging each of them with the exception of Alex, who offered his hand to her when Liv introduced him and Tonks shook it.

'Nice to finally meet you, Alex,' she said. 'Welcome to the madness.'

'Likewise. Thank you.' He sounded rather bashful, but opened a small smile. 'Liv talks a lot about you back home.'

She raised her eyebrows, sitting down between Liv and Lucy.

'Not all good, I hope,' Tonks remarked with a wink.

'Not all good,' Liv confirmed.

'Dress robes, check,' Lucy began, checking her outfit. 'High heels, who cares?'

Tonks laughed with her.

'Told you,' Liv said tilting her head to the side.

'I had rather thought that you'd wear them for today,' Lucy added.

'Me in high heels is a disaster waiting to happen,' Tonks commented shaking her head. 'I believe there are a lot of those out there nowadays; I don't need to go adding more.'

It didn't take long for the church to become full of people and the murmur of talk started to disturb those who would rather listen to the music. Finn was already by the altar, talking with his best man, though his nervousness was clear. The buzz within the church only grew louder as Mr Wright appeared at the door with his daughter, but as the two of them started walking, the church fell silent. Rachel was stunning in a white dress, make-up that Tonks was sure that had taken several hours and her hair was falling down the middle of her back. She grinned and waved as her friend passed by rows of benches. If a bunch of Death Eaters didn't enter the church, everything would be absolutely perfect for Rachel's most special day. But then again, why would they want to crash her wedding? The only thing they could possibly want in that party was an Order of Phoenix member to kidnap and bargain. The thought made Tonks glance towards the door and hold her wand firmer between her fingers.

At the altar, Mr Wright had hugged his daughter tightly one last time and threatened his soon-to-be son-in-law as usual. Rachel and Finn exchanged a nervous, yet excited glance and held hands as the reverend addressed the crowd.

'Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of this young couple who I'm sure at least most of you know the names,' he grinned and Tonks knew that if she were ever to get married, she would have to ask Rachel that reverend's name for she wanted someone with that spirit to celebrate it. She heard him going on and on with the usual talk until finally the reverend asked the question 'Do you, Finn Mason Budge, take Rachel Heloise Wright as your lawfully wedded wife? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish her from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto her for as long as you both shall live?'

'I do,' he answered at once, his voice magically louder so each person in the church could hear him perfectly.

'Do you, Rachel Heloise Wright, take Finn Mason Budge as your lawfully wedded husband? Will you love, honour, comfort, and cherish him from this day forward, forsaking all others, keeping only unto him for as long as you both shall live?'

'I do,' she promised with a choking voice.

The reverend turned to Finn's best man whispering something inaudible and he took the ring from his inner pocket a moment later.

'May this ring be blessed so he who gives it and she who wears it may abide in peace and continue in love until life's end.'

'With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment,' Finn said with a wide smile and placed the ring on her finger.

'May this ring be blessed so that she who gives it and he who wears it may abide in peace, and continue in love until life's end,' the reverend pronounced, producing the other ring.

Rachel took it and placed it on Finn's finger while saying 'With this ring I thee wed. Wear it as a symbol of our love and commitment.'

'You may now seal the promises you have made with each other with a kiss, and I declare you bonded for life.'

Finn leant over, placing a tender hand to Rachel's chin and pulled her to an affectionate kiss. Once they had separated and were grinning at each other, their wedding officiant waved his wand and several silver stars laced the newly-weds hands then showered upon the guests. Bells and hearts covered the church's ceiling while the couple turned to face them under thunderous applause.

'Ladies and gentlemen, please stand up.' The reverend waited a minute as all the guests stood and added 'I have the honour to present you the loving couple Mr and Mrs Finn Budge!'

With wide grins, both of them walked down the aisle, nodding and waving at loved ones as they did so. The bells and hearts were fading by the time they reached the end, but it did not diminish the will of their guests to go congratulate them. A queue was already forming, Mrs Wright was at the front, hugging her daughter, the tiny woman had to stand on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around Rachel's shoulders since she was wearing heels that were rather high. When Tonks's turn arrived, she also had a wide grin on her lips and embraced her friend tightly.

'Congratulations, Rach!' she exclaimed. 'I'm so happy for you! I hope you two are really, really happy together. It's finally happened, huh?' Tonks added pulling away.

'I know, I know!' Rachel nodded. 'Thank you. Thank you so much, Dora. It's – oh God ...' She swallowed hard, adjusting the ring on her finger.

Tonks took her hand and looked at the golden wedding band.

'Gorgeous, Finn,' she remarked stepping aside to congratulate him. 'I'm sure you've heard enough from her dad, but if you leave her I'll kill you.'

Rachel rolled her eyes and Finn chuckled, albeit somewhat nervous.

'I won't. You needn't worry about that, I'm not mad,' he told her. 'Thank you.'

After all the pictures were taken – with Lucy lecturing the professional photographers how to properly frame them all in the photo – they headed to the end of the church. A few fireplaces had been organised there to take the guests where the actual party would take place. Tonks arrived at the saloon whipping ashes from her dress robes and saw the champagne bottles hovering over the guests' heads and waiters serving all kinds of canapés. The saloon was a huge dance floor with round, white tables around it. Magical lights illuminated the room and although the song was Tonks's favourite, it was passable since the band had guitars, bass and drums, presumably for the end; marvellous, especially for a wedding party. She sat at one of the tables near the centre with her friends, but any attempts at talking were fruitless due to the musicians being just three yards from them. In just a few minutes, the place was packed with cheerful guests, but the music only stopped when Mr and Mrs Budge appeared at the entrance, holding hands and greeting them all. They took the dance floor, having their traditional first slow dance.

A small smile came to her lips as Tonks watched them. She was happy for them, of course she was. Rachel had played an important part in her life over the years, helping her over and over with Potions at Hogwarts so she could get an E in her N.E.W.T.S. so if anyone deserved to be happy, it was the couple she had stolen quite a few happy hours during their last year. However, as she swirled her goblet in her hand, Tonks couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart. A stupid, lovable werewolf took over her thoughts. When would she and Remus have anything close to that? The couple of times they had kissed were some of the happiest moments of her life. She had told him that his age didn't matter, that his lack of gold didn't matter and yet, he still refused to have anything to do with her. If she knew that he would react that way, would she have done the same, would she have confessed her feelings? In hindsight, he didn't give her much of a choice. Assuming she was in love with Sirius! And now Sirius was ... dead.

A moment later, Rachel's parents joined them and from that it was only a minute before most of the guests were dancing as well. Beside her, her best friend stood up with her boyfriend, but Tonks kept her eyes on the glass.

'Come on. You don't get to mope today,' Liv said, pulling her with them.

Defeated, Tonks exhaled heavily, but smiled. She emptied the last of her champagne and strode off to the dance floor. The song was still unknown to her, but it was certainly better than the one the band was playing as they arrived so Tonks tried not to think of Remus the whole time, deciding to enjoy herself for the rest of the night at the very least.

A flash of silver caught her eye and Tonks knew there was no time to explain. She ran to the nearest toilet, shutting herself in there just in time to see the koala sitting in front of her and starting to speak with Emmeline's voice. It was all she could do not to cause general panic in Rachel's wedding by having a talking Patronus right where her guests were.

'Emergency at Diagon Alley. Come NOW.'

_Brilliant._

She could bet anything that when Dumbledore came up with the idea of Patronuses delivering messages to other people wherever they were, he never thought he would be at a wedding when he received an urgent memo. The Potters quickly came to her mind, but she pushed them away just as fast. Clenching her teeth, Tonks left as fast as she could, hurrying to the middle of the dance floor where Rachel was still dancing with Finn and grasped her friend's face, placing a kiss on her cheek.

'I'm sorry. I've to go!'

The next second she was swirling and entering the darkness of Apparition.

The sudden silence of Diagon Alley had her squinting her eyes and shaking her head as she dashed down the street to get used to the lack of loud music right beside her ears. All she had got from Emmeline's message was that there was some sort of disturbance at the Diagon Alley, but whether it was a duel, the outcome of a duel or even the suspicion of one, Tonks had no clue. However, the smoke in the sky and the tumult of people gave her an idea. Approaching the shop, she had to slow down and zigzag between all the curious people on the street. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the state of the front and barely noticed Hestia nearing her. The Ice Cream Parlour was destroyed, exploded from the inside out and Tonks could only hope that Florean Fortescue had been able to leave before it all went down.

'What happened?' she asked noticing her colleague's sympathetic nod and Kingsley behind them trying to convince the wizards there that they needed to stay away.

'Death Eaters,' Hestia answered crossing her arms. 'They attacked Ollivanders, too. All synchronised and it was just me and Em; we could only watch. Moody has a few others there, analysing to try to find any clues.'

'_But why?_' Tonks frowned heavily. None of them had any connection to the Order or the Ministry, what could Voldemort possibly want with either of them? She could understand a remote need to make a specific wand either for him or for one of his followers, though she was sure that Ollivander would say that the wand chooses the wizard, but ice cream?

Hestia shrugged.

'We don't know; probably have some information You-Know-Who needs, that's our best guess so far. Moody reckons they can be hostages too, but even he admits that Fortescue isn't a very important asset. I mean, Ollivander, we can see him being important enough since all the eleven-year-olds will need a wand in a couple months, but everyone will survive without ice cream.' She sighed.

Tonks recalled the ice cream her father had smuggled into her room at St. Mungo's; when would they have the proper bowl of ice cream they had agreed to have? Those small moments of comfort and childlike glee, and Fortescue was now nowhere in sight.

'Casualties?'

Hestia shook her head.

'Just a few scratches and burns, sent to St. Mungo's just now, they'll be all right.'

'Anything in there?' Tonks asked tilting her head to the shop.

'Not much. If you want to talk with Mad-Eye, you can go,' Hestia suggested and seeing Tonks's nod, she added 'he has Lupin there with him and Kingsley told us he'd be here any moment now.'

Tonks offered her a small smile. Was it that obvious? She Disapparated and appeared in front of Ollivanders. It had smoke coming out of its broken windows as well, but before she could take in much more of the shop's state, her mentor was limping towards her and by the look on his face, he wasn't at all happy.

'Get in there,' Mad-Eye growled. 'They need professional help over the parlour and I'm not leaving Lupin by himself here.'

Tonks frowned.

'Kings is –'

'I know he's going,' Moody replied at once. 'I'm going too.'

If it was any possible, she thought that he was getting even more paranoid. At the very least he seemed to trust her still. She stepped into the destroyed shop, hearing the pop of Apparition behind herself. Ollivanders had pieces of broken wands all over the floor, boxes torn apart everywhere and by the way the smoke was still in the highest bits of the shop, Tonks was surprised not to see fire in there.

'Nice disguise,' Remus remarked, coming out of a room behind her, the corner of his lips curling in a small smile. 'You're looking good.'

'Thanks,' she said, glancing down to her dress robes. 'Not a disguise, though. I was at a wedding.'

'Oh, I'm sorry then.'

Tonks shrugged a shoulder.

'It's fine, maybe I can still come back.'

Remus glanced down to his battered shoes, looking embarrassed.

'Dumbledore wants a meeting after we're finished here.'

'Then my plans are ruined,' she sighed. 'Guess I'll end my night by sitting for an hour by your side at that ancient kitchen.' Was that what she considered ruined?

Remus swallowed hard.

'The Burrow actually,' he told her. 'Dumbledore wants to make sure that the house isn't with the Malfoys or something of the like. We don't want them bursting in and discovering our plans or taking our notes. Anything to avoid what happened with Kreacher last week.'

Still not referring to Sirius's death by its name, Tonks noticed, then nodded.

'So ... no notes or anything suspicious?' she asked, glancing around.

He shook his head, following her gaze.

'No ... I suppose they just wanted Mr Ollivander. He must have resisted at some point, but he was outnumbered.'

The two of them searched every inch of the shop, but wherever they looked, there were only slivers of shattered wands and the remains of their boxes. Outputs of spells could be located at some of the shelves, but Tonks only deduced them to come from some sort of exploding hexes; nothing that could indicate to them exactly who did it. Night was starting to fall when Mad-Eye limped through the door and informed them that the meeting was about to start. The three of them cast a few protective spells around the shop to prevent vandals from destroying the shop even further and Disapparated, just like the other members had done around the Ice Cream Parlour.

Remus gestured to the door once they landed, letting Tonks enter the house first. The Burrow was noisy as the kids were all home for the summer, each of them seemed to be shouting louder to get Molly's attention, but the matron was busy welcoming the Order into her home and putting together a few small tables and lots of chairs in the garden for them all. It was easy to feel at home, he realised, the Burrow's air seemed to be the complete opposite of the Grimmauld Place's, despite being less than two hundred miles away from London. Or maybe it was the environment the presence of a family created. He hadn't had that in decades ...

Sitting down, he smiled lightly when Ginny hurried to hug Tonks and she started talking, informing the girl of what had happened, much more than Molly would have approved for her little girl undoubtedly. Her disregard for rules was amusing and he felt content just to be able to watch her. His Dora, the wonderful woman he could never have. She could say whatever she wanted, it was better to have her like this, than not have her at all which was indubitably what would happen if they ventured in a relationship as she wanted to. Remus sighed. It panged his heart. She had no idea what she was asking for, of that he was sure. He didn't want her to become nothingness, he wanted her to achieve her full potential and how could she if she was involved with a werewolf? Obviously, the Ministry would never allow her to accomplish a single promotion, no matter how well she performed her missions, how many Death Eaters she sent to Azkaban or how much Moody tried to interfere. Dora would be lucky if she didn't get fired altogether once they knew. _Why anyone in their right mind would want to devastate her life like that? If only there was a way to set her free ... _But he knew that Tonks would only let go when there was absolutely no hope left, when it was over, when he was gone ...

Dumbledore headed to the table and the members hurried to accompany him with Tonks taking her usual seat by his side, part of him wanted to say that he was saving that seat for a friend, but he no longer had one of those. The pang only hurt deeper inside him. Molly placed trays of homemade biscuits on the table and Remus got one gratefully; he hadn't eaten in several hours.

'We all know who was behind the attacks today,' began Dumbledore. 'Unfortunately, the Ministry cannot help us as we would like them to. Cornelius is facing threats not only from Voldemort himself but also from wizards and witches who don't think he is fit to represent them in this – let's call it, crisis.'

There were a few murmurs of agreement before Dumbledore could continue.

'On top of that, he says the Ministry is preparing leaflets to deliver at every single house where there is a living wizard or witch. Most of their Aurors are now patrolling in hopes to prevent any more attacks.' He gestured to the three Aurors sitting by the table; Kingsley nodded shortly. 'They cannot hope to patrol the whole country, however. I've informed Cornelius of a hint that I received from a reliable source that giants were spotted far closer to London than they had been in years; instead of asking the Aurors to investigate as I hoped he would, he told me that if he were to follow every lead, his Aurors would be busier than monkeys catching bugs from each other. I must say his choice of words might have been different.' The headmaster's smile caused most of the members to chuckle and Remus wondered just how dirty Fudge's sentence had been. 'It would be foolish of me not to consider the synchronism of this information arriving just before Mr Ollivander and Mr Fortescue were taken. Therefore, I must ask, are there any volunteers to investigate the situation with the giants?'

His hand rose immediately and Remus did his best to ignore the frown Tonks shot towards him.

'I'm free to check with them,' he said now that he didn't even have the shifts at the Hall of the Prophecy to occupy his nights. Moreover, he would do anything to set her free so he clenched his teeth when her hand rose as Dumbledore denied Hagrid's attempt to join them by explaining that he wanted new faces rather than offering one that the giants already knew, though Remus suspected that the headmaster would prefer to have wizards who could Disapparate quickly if the situation became hostile as it had when the Order first contacted them.

'Nymphadora and Emmeline, perfect, thank you very much. I believe you three will manage the situation faultlessly.' Dumbledore nodded. 'It is essential to remain undercover. However, if you are exposed, please seek shelter.'

Remus didn't need to hear that he didn't want another member having the same ending as Sirius. He exhaled heavily.

'Although I have my personal hints, I would appreciate it if all of you kept both eyes open to any sort of information on those two gentlemen whereabouts,' the headmaster added, finishing the meeting.

Tonks called Emmeline and once she had joined them, she asked 'I gotta work all day tomorrow. Can we do this Monday night then?'

'Naturally,' Emmeline replied.

'Of course,' Remus agreed offering them a fake smile.

'Seven works for you?' Emmeline asked, glancing from one to the other.

He nodded.

'Yeah, sure,' said Tonks.

'I'll get the location with Dumbledore then,' Emmeline told them, but before walking over to the headmaster, she added 'Your curls look great!'

'Thanks!' Tonks grinned for a second before turning to him. 'So, how long are we going to keep pretending there's nothing between us?' she enquired.

'There's nothing between us,' Remus pointed out avoiding her gaze.

'Oh, you don't know?' Tonks raised her eyebrows. 'I say we quit this rubbish right now then.'

'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Allow me to enlighten you then!' She turned to face him with wide eyes and what it seemed to be almost a smile, but his only reaction was to swallow hard. 'Over the past month I've told you I love you, we've snogged, we've been half-clothed in the Grimmauld's kitchen driving Sirius's old hag of a mum even more insane if she knew but for some reason you just won't say that you don't want me,' Tonks mocked. 'Here's what I propose – Mind you, I've proposed before, but you still won't say it. Just tell me you don't love me. No catch. It's simple as that. Tell me you don't love me and I'll drop it, I won't ever ask you about it again. Promise.'

She was asking for five words and all he could do was open and close his mouth like a gormless idiot. How could she ever think that he was good for her? All that could ever be between them was nothingness.

'I don't want to ruin your life,' he whispered after what felt like a full minute and Remus thought his heart might have stopped at the sight of her smug smirk.

'You can't.'


End file.
